Dream Duel
by Metal Overlord 2.0
Summary: Most self insertion stories have the author out to save the world, me? I'm just trying to save my own hide...if I can even save THAT Complete!
1. Chapter 1

Dream Duel

By Metal Overlord 2.0

Hello everyone! I thought that in between working up the motivation to get back into the swing of writing new chapters for my Teen Titans fanfic I'd whip up something that I've wanted to do almost as much. Interestingly enough I was inspired to do this latest story when out of a combination of heavy nostalgia, curiosity and boredom I started a mini story in my reviews of my fellow writer and good friend Illidan the Half-Demon (If you haven't read any of his stories I HIGHLY recommend reading at least 'Tournament of Power'). What was supposed to just be a quick gag quickly grew into almost a full fledged story in its own right, I even had myself a fan in the form of the anonymous reviewer Nathan who gave me props for such an entertaining side story. In fact he was so impressed he recommended I turn that story into its very own fanfic and well, here we are. For those of you who have been wondering if I hadn't dropped off the face of the Earth yes I'm still doing 'The Girl Who Loved a Monster' and have no intention of abandoning it. Hopefully working on this will reawaken my passion and entertain a few more folks out there to boot. Enjoy!

Ever have one of those dreams that feels so real you actually can't quite tell if you're asleep or not? I seem to be having one of those only in my case its not a dream, its an out of body experience thanks to that car that hit me while I was crossing the street. Of course it's not REALLY the driver's fault that he hit me, especially considering that the traffic light was green, and I wasn't paying attention, and I had my face glued to my Game Boy Advance while I was walking. Silly me for deciding that trying to summon a monster to break through the computer's defenses before it assembled Exodia was more important then checking what color the traffic light was. Nope, not his fault at all. In case this sounds like its something out of a bad soap opera where the main character gets into a coma and throws the lives of his loved ones into utter ruin relax, this story has a happy ending, provided I make it through my current predicament. When some people get knocked unconscious or put into a near death experience some get the proverbial light at the end of a tunnel, others see loved ones that have passed away to offer them words of wisdom or encouragement. Me? I have to duel for my sanity against one of the most deranged and sadistic villains in 'Yu-Gi'Oh'. Confused? I thought so, I better back up a bit before things get ugly.

You know you need to reevaluate a few things in life when your almost 20 and still have a shoebox full of Yu-Gi-Oh cards hanging around your room. Well okay, it's a bit more then JUST a shoebox. For me my card game fad went through four phases: Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Duel Masters, then back to Yu-Gi-Oh. From my first handful of throwaway commons given to me by a friend in school who didn't want them anymore to the latest promotional card tucked into the corners of 'Shonen Jump' I've amassed more cards then I know what to do with, which makes it all the more annoying that I have yet to find anybody these days to use them with. I loved the card game, I love the show, I love almost everything about Yu-Gi-Oh frankly (well except for some of the crappy game adaptations they've made, 'Duelist of Roses' made about as much sense as trying to cut down a tree with a fish). So it only makes sense that, when I ran out of real people to play the game with I turned to my Game Boy and the collection of Yu-Gi-Oh games I had on it, which is why I'm in the mess I'm in right now.

I'm standing in…well I guess you could say it's a sort of arena. Really nasty place too, roughly based on the kind where Roman gladiator's used to fight to the death but with what looks like a few dump trucks worth of slime and decay thrown in just to make things even more unpleasant. Compared to the guy I was unfortunate enough to meet here however the place might as well be the land of pixies and unicorns. "Of all the people I could have met in an out of body experience exactly WHY did it have to be Yami Marik?" I groan aloud. Yep you heard me, my companion in this sickly den of muck and rubble is the darkness incarnate of Marik Ishtar, complete with spiky hair, thick veins all over his face, and of course the completely insane look in his eyes. "Afraid boy?" Yami Marik purred looking at me like a predator that's stalking its helpless prey. "Well you might as well scream while you can. When I'm done with you you'll be BEGGING for death." He cackled. Most people in this scenario would be terrified, or confused, or both. For me its all of the above but I'm also annoyed. "Okay hold it, now I'm sure you don't need a logical reason to kill me being you're a complete lunatic forged from pure evil given flesh and blood but I wouldn't mind knowing WHY you have the sudden urge to bump me off." I reply crossing my arms and giving him what I hoped was a withering look.

Yami Marik pauses at this blinking before that amused leer returns to his face. "Hmm, defiance, I like that, I suppose I might as well fill you in on why were here. Your currently at a nexus between the mortal world and the afterlife. In most cases by the time you enter this plane of existence your body is already beginning the process of passing on to the next world, however," He added noticing my panicked expression. "Your not quite dead yet. In fact you stand a rather reasonable chance of recovering from the little coma your in…provided I don't rend your soul to pieces." "You just HAD to add that last part didn't you?" I sighed suddenly feeling a great deal of sympathy for Yugi and all the other people that had to deal with this nut case in the show. Yami Marik merely sneered. "Like you even need to ask? But on to business, in case it hasn't sunk in yet boy the two of us are souls cast adrift between life and death and the only escape for either of us happens to be your body." He explained taking a few steps towards me, to which I responded by taking a few steps back. "Okay I'm officially getting freaked out, but if you need a body to escape…wherever we are, couldn't you have done better then a nineteen year old who still lives with his parents?" I asked.

There was a rather noticeable twitch in Yami Marik's eye at this. "If I had a more suitable opportunity I would have taken it. Your one of the only humans I could find in your present state that had any form of link to take advantage of. Its taken most of what little command of the Shadow Realm I still have to even maintain a physical form in this plane of existence. If I fail to take control of your body I'll no longer be able to postpone my descent into…well, you figure it out." He growled. "I suppose that makes sense, in a really messed up sort of way, but what kind of link would the evil half of the heir to the Tomb Keeper clan have with a Caucasian American fanboy?" I wondered. "Simple actually, you have in your possession an item that was the greatest symbol of my power when I was alive." Yami Marik explained suddenly breaking into a toothy grin as though he knew something about this that I didn't and found it hilarious. "Uh, well lessee, I don't have spiky hair or a glowing eye in my forehead so its not looks. The closest thing I have to your Millennium Rod is a metal tipped wooden cane and last time I checked the only way I could influence anybody's mind with that is with severe brain damage. So that really doesn't lave too many possibilities except possibly for your g-" I stop in mid sentence the answer hitting me like a kick to the head and with it an almost overwhelming feeling of disbelief. "Oh you've got to be kidding me." Was all I managed to say. Yami Marik threw back his head and roared with laughter. "I was wondering when you'd remember that you possess a copy of my dear friend the Winged Dragon of Ra."

"YOUR HAUNTING ME BECAUSE I HAVE A FAKE COPY OF RA?! THE FREAKING THINGS NOT EVEN WORTH THE CARDBOARD ITS PRINTED ON!!" I squawked in outrage that such a stupid twist of fate had brought this guy to my neck of the woods. "Real or not, even that inferior replica of Ra contained the barest whisper of the true God Card's power. It was that small amount of power that drew me to you and now just as Ra rose from the grave time and time again I will use your body to return from the grave and begin anew in YOUR world!" He laughed triumphantly. For a second or two I just stood there, then, to Yami Marik's surprise I smirked. "Well in all honesty you wouldn't be much worse then the folks already running the world. Still I rather like my soul just were it was so I think we have ourselves a little problem." I retorted feeling my confidence peek out from under the rock it had been hiding. If the only way Yami Marik was able to hang onto the living world was a counterfeit trading card then he was obviously clutching at straws, and maybe I had a better chance of making it out of here with my soul intact then I first thought.

Yami Marik's triumphant sneer faltered and was replaced by a scowl. "Grr, your lack of fear is beginning to irritate me. A little boy like you should know better then to mock someone who has the power to kill him without lifting so much as a finger!" He spat. "Yeah, except for the fact that A) You don't have the Millennium Rod, B) Your in the same position as I am stuck here and C) You come from a world where outcome of a children's card game influences the fate of an entire planet on a regular basis. Not seeing too many reasons I should be wetting myself sorry." I said cleaning out my ear and flicking my finger.

For a second it looked like Yami Marik was going to throw a fit when he stopped an insane grin cracking his face from ear to ear. "Hmm, interesting point. Well then, perhaps we should settle this matter in a way both of us are rather familiar with, like say a certain 'children's card game' perhaps?" He asked. "Your challenging me to a game of Duel Monsters?" I ask my newly regained courage starting to look for another rock to hide under, considering that it took Yugi every single card in his deck, which included two Egyptian God Cards, to take this guy down I wasn't too sure that I'd last more then a few turns. "That's right, no Heart of the Cards, no God Cards, just you and me in a duel with our souls on the line. To make things fair I won't even use the same deck that I chose as my weapon of choice against the Pharaoh and little Yugi in the Battle City Finals. Do you accept?" He asked arching an eyebrow in amusement knowing damn well that I didn't have any other choice.

I thought about it for a moment knowing that even without his god card or his original deck Yami Marik was a deadly foe. But then I thought about the people I'd leave behind to grieve if my soul was lost. Mom, dad, my stepfather, my little brother, my girlfriend Jenny, I'd be abandoning them and leave them nothing but a brainless vegetable for a person at best and at worst have a monster be reborn in my flesh and blood to carry out who knew what in the real world. "I have just two things to say Marik." I said looking at him intensely. "Oh? And what would that be?" He asked in mock curiosity. Closing my eyes and calling upon whatever forces were at work here I willed a Duel Disk into existence strapped to my arm. Forty cards, selected and shuffled in the time it took me to blink, loaded into place the tray extending and sliding into place with a whir holding it out in front of me like a shield ready to see this through to the bitter end. "Bring it."

And that, ladies and gents, if the first chapter to what I hope to be my first successful foray into Yu-Gi-Oh! Fanfiction! For those of you that read my original mini fanfic in the reviews of 'Forgotten Guardians' I've decided to build upon the duel I had there and revamp the coming conflict so don't be surprised if you find cards, combos and strategies not seen in the duel I wrote about then. As the first bit of writing I've posted in a WHILE on this site I'm very excited to see what people think of my idea for a fanfic and don't worry, there will be plenty of dueling next chapter. Don't forget to send some feedback and thank you everyone who decided to give this story a look. Tata for now!


	2. Chapter 2

Dream Duel

By Metal Overlord 2.0

Heh, well now I guess it wasn't that bad an idea to start this fic seeing as I've already gotten a few fans. Many thanks to my first two reviewers so far, DuelistBlake1852 and MichaelDJ54, two VERY talented writers in their own right who I appreciate giving me some much needed feedback I didn't know quite how this would go over seeing as its my first try at a Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic. I would like to address DuelistBlake1852's comment on my habit of grouping together paragraphs. I must confess that its become somewhat of a trademark quirk of mine so while I will try and change it a bit for the dueling aspects in this chapter I'm still very fond of making big meaty paragraphs rich with detail, call me stubborn, call me eccentric it's a little of both really LOL Here's hoping you guys enjoy my latest chapter hopefully I'll get used to updating more quickly, enjoy!

Yami Marik roared in laughter as he summoned a Duel Disk of his own as he faced me in the decrepit arena that was about to house the battle for my very being, or at least my mind. Unlike me however he seemed all too eager to show off dark spirits emerging from the ground beneath us and circling him in a wailing shrieking din before transforming into the forty cards that were to be his deck loading up with a whir. "Now just to make sure I get to watch you squirm a bit longer we'll set the life point counters to 8000 for each of us. Considering this means you won't die as quickly if you play smartly I trust you have no complaints?" He asked tilting his head lightly to one side a mocking leer never leaving his face.

"Not really, so if you're done showing off to try and scare me I'd like to get this over with before I drop dead of old age." I snapped back as the life point counter's blazed to life. We each drew five cards and shouted at the same time "LETS DUEL!" And with that the battle was on. "Now just so you don't do that stupid Parasite Leech trick you did with Yugi I'm going to go first if you don't mind." I said drawing a sixth card.

Yami Marik just chuckled at this. "Oooh, somebody's getting impatient. Very well then I'll let you go first, but just so you know I'm not using the deck I wielded in the Battle City finals. After all I no longer possess my dear friend the Winged Dragon of Ra so it would be folly to still use a deck that was centered mostly on summoning, supporting and retrieving it. So thank you for allowing me the pleasure of being the first to draw blood I assure you it will be one of your last mistakes!" He taunted.

I tried to hide my sudden urge to smack myself in the forehead by scanning my hand, only to stop and stare in surprise. "What the…since when do I have any of THESE cards?" I wondered aloud. Throughout my dueling career, which mostly consisted of either playing with a select group of fellow outcasts who played Yu-Gi-Oh in a classroom opposite the cafeteria at lunch time or getting my ass handed to me at a local card shop tournament I had used three distinct decks. The first one was a fiend deck that was built around the Archfiend but also used some of the other members of demon nobility like Dark Ruler Ha Des and general fiends like Giant Orc, Twin Headed Wolf, and Winged Minion to name a few. After I initially traded in my Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards to help finance my foray into Duel Masters, a game that while entertaining just wasn't as much fun (plus I got tired of hearing from indignant nerds about how it was a blatant rip-off of Magic the Gathering) I had chosen zombies to be my new weapon of choice focusing on three copies of Soul Absorbing Bone Tower and all the resurrection cards I could legally have to deck an opponent out with an endless army of Vampire Lords, Pyramid Turtles and other zombie staples.

But the cards I held in my hand were of an entirely different deck, one that I had used only in the very Game Boy Advance game that had gotten me into this mess. It had started out as a joke deck, something I toyed with in between playing with all the other rare and powerful cards I'd never get my mitts on in real life, but as time went on I put more and more work into it until, after a decision to mail a copy of the two cards that would eventually become part of this deck's most powerful combo, it became my prized deck. Now it seemed whoever was running the show up there had seen fit to give me the deck that possibly held the greatest connection to me. Realizing I was doing WAY too much inward thinking I took a card and slapped it onto the tray. "Okay, for my first move I summon Gagagigo (1850,1000) in attack mode!" I declared.

Considering this was my first time dueling like this you can imagine my initial surprise in seeing the man sized reptilian creature appear his forked tongue darting out as he looked back at me with cold alien eyes. "Uhh…hi?" I said meekly waving and hoping that, if this was a Shadow Game, I had at least SOME control over these monsters. To my relief and a bit more surprise Gagagigo gave me a curt nod and hissed in what I suppose was meant to be an encouraging manner. "To end my move I'll set a card facedown, lets see what you've got." I said a facedown card appearing behind Gagagigo.

Yami Marik clucked his tongue in disapproval drawing a card. "Dear me, if that's the best you can come up with this won't be much of a challenge at all. Let me guess, your using a water deck perhaps? Or maybe a vanilla beat down deck? Regardless of whatever feeble excuse of a strategy your deck uses it pales in comparison to the horrors that wait in my deck. Lets give you your first taste of the agony to come shall we? I call to the field my dear friend, Archfiend Soldier! (1900,1500)" He commanded sweeping his arm as a wicked serrated sword cleaved through the ground in front of him and a hideous demon appeared with curved horns and a gaunt skeletal face. Judging by the eager expression on Yami Marik's face I was guessing he was waiting for me to cower in fear. Instead I did something that I'm sure never ONCE happened in any of his own duels: I put my hands to my cheeks and made those revolting cooing noises people try and make when they see a newborn infant or something else that's cute enough for them to destroy what respect they have in the eyes of those around them.

"Awww, isn't he cute? I bet underneath all that blood drenched armor and weapons he just wants a hug." I gushed. Not only did the veins on Yami Marik's forehead seem to triple in thickness and size but amazingly Gagagigo seemed to be trying to hold back laughter making a weird cross between a hiss and a snicker. "I take it you were expecting me to soil myself? Sorry I used that guy for months I'm about as scared of him as I am of your bad hair cut." I said unable to resist giving a cocky grin. Guess I wasn't that bad at making snappy one liners when under pressure, who knew?

The last comment about the hair seemed to be the last straw for my opponent. "ARCHFIEND SOLDIER KILL HIS WRETCHED LIZARD AND CARVE SOME RESPECT INTO HIS FLESH!!" Yami Marik screamed his eyes practically bulging from their sockets. The soldier charged swinging its sword in a wide arc and cutting down Gagagigo green blood spraying from the wound in its chest as it fell to the ground.

"Gagagigo!" I cried out in shock, I knew it was going to happen as soon as I had seen Yami Marik play his monster, but after seeing Gagagigo as a living creature and not just as a piece of cardboard, seeing it die before my eyes was like a punch to the gut. The lizard, having not shattered into pixels just yet, looked at me through eyes clouded by pain and weakly jerked his head at my facedown card as my life points were reduced by 50 points. Understanding I gave him a sorrowful look sorry that he had had to die but nodded. "You may have taken first blood but by damaging my life points I can make sure Gagagigo didn't die in vain! I activate the trap card Damage Condenser. For every bit of damage I take I can special summon a monster with an attack score equal to or less then the damage I took. And before you point out how I only lost 50 points the card I'm about to summon has a score of zero. Come on out Cat-Nipped Kitty (0,500)" I discarded the card from my hand needed to pay for Damage Condenser's use and Gagagigo shattered into pixels, only to be absorbed into a giant glass canister that sparked and crackled. It hissed open and from within hopped out an adorable little purple furred kitten with a bell and ribbon on its neck and heart shaped patches in its fur. The kitty saw me and trotted over nuzzling its head against my leg comforting me after the shock of seeing Gagagigo die.

Yami Marik arched an eyebrow at this a mixture of surprise and amusement on his face. "And here I thought Joey Wheeler's Swordsman of Landstar was a waste of deck space. Did you actually put any thought into making this deck of yours or did you just stuff forty random cards into a deck and hope for the best? But if you wish to squander the last chance you have for salvation far be it from me to-"

"OH PUT A SOCK IN IT AND FINISH YOUR TURN YOU STUNTED BLONDE SEA URCHIN!!!" I roared in a tone so full of rage it made Yami Marik and Archfiend Soldier draw back in surprise. "I've had about up to here with your blasted boasting so either do something aside from rant like a loon or let me take my turn already" I demanded. The briefly forgotten Cat-Nipped Kitty seemed to agree with me arching its back and hissing.

For a moment Yami Marik looked angry that I had dared to interrupt his monologue but then a crooked smile etched itself into his features. "You know its been quite some time since someone has dared speak to me in such a manner. Its actually kind of refreshing. Aside from the Pharaoh few of my opponents have mustered the courage to prove beyond even a miniscule challenge. Very well then," He set two cards facedown and bowed mockingly to me. "Show me your power as a duelist."

"Oh with pleasure!" I barked drawing a card and looking it over. I gave a sneer of my own. "You wanna see what I can do? Okay I'll show you! First I move Cat-Nipped Kitty to defense mode," I turned the card sideways on the tray the kitten curling up in a ball at my feet. "And next I summon the centerpiece of my deck, one of my favorite fiends of all time please give it up for Kozaky! (400,400)" I slapped a card into the tray and a form began to emerge from the darkness. A pair of glasses gleamed in the dark and out came a small hunched over purple creature with long messy unkempt hair and was dressed in a lab coat, trousers and a tie. Kozaky adjusted his glasses reaching down and scratching Kat Nipped Kitty behind the ears making it purr its little heart out.

Yami Marik meanwhile was cackling at my underwhelming collection of creatures. "If your little lizard couldn't stand up to my Archfiend Soldier what makes you think that Igor clone and your little kitten will fare any better?" He asked in between snorts of laughter. Archfiend Soldier seemed to share this skepticism laughing along with its master.

Instead of get angry at Yami Marik for his snide remarks my grin only grew knowing that when I unleashed my secret weapon it was going to wipe that smug look right off his ugly face. "Well I didn't have the two most important cards in my deck now did I? These cards mean a lot to me for…well personal reasons." I said blushing a bit remembering how I had sent these two cards as part of a care package to my girlfriend in Missouri Jenny. She had loved them writing back to me saying how Kozaky and Cat Nipped Kitty reminded her of the two of us. "These cards symbolize the bond I have with someone I love very much and I worked hard to make them a part of this deck creating combo that can bring even the strongest monster to its knees. Now to complete my combo I play the continuous spell card Stumbling forcing all monsters we summon from now on to switch to defense mode when they're brought to the field." A spell card appeared on my field showing Gagagigo crawling across a valley of bones.

"All the pieces are in place Yami Marik and its time to show you the power of my best combo! I play Enemy Controller allowing me to switch your Archfiend Soldier to defense mode." I played the spell card and a controller appeared in my hand the cord plugging into Archfiend Soldier's forehead. I pressed a few buttons and the demon jerkily fell on its bony ass with a thud. "Now I activate Cat Nipped Kitty's special effect, once per turn I can turn the defense of one monster on the field to zero so I think I'll pick your soldier." The little kitten hopped over and nuzzled Archfiend Soldier's leg little hearts around its head. The demon cringed at this drawing back a look of revulsion in its gaunt face at such overpowering cuteness its defense score dropping like a rock to zero. "And now Kozaky avenge Gagagigo and give Archfiend Soldier a dishonorable discharge!" The little scientist fiend took a beaker of bubbling green fluid from its coat and pulled the stopper with its teeth taking aim and hurling it at the fiend the beaker bursting and its contents dissolving the Archfiend's flesh on contact. Yami Marik could only watch in stunned disbelief as his monster melted into a puddle of sickly purple goo while Kozaky gave the victory sign. "Still think I don't have a chance of winning blondie? Because I'd say my odds just got a bit better." I said feeling a shred of hope that maybe, against all odds, I can win this duel.

WHEW! It wasn't until I started doing it myself that I found out how much harder it is to write duels then to read about them. Still I think I did a good job, as I said in the last chapter I will try and stick to the basic duel I had in my review fic in 'Forgotten Guardians' but I think its going to be more fun to see if I can't elaborate here and there and make the duel more exciting. As always feedback is appreciated and I hope that I surprised a few folks by updating so fast maybe I can make this a habit so people don't think I've dropped off the face of the Earth LOL In any case here's hoping everyone who decided to give this story a chance is having fun reading it I'll try and update soon. Ta-ta for now!


	3. Chapter 3

Dream Duel

By Metal Overlord 2.0

LOL Well now, guess it really makes a difference to make sure anonymous reviewers can review my stuff too I've gotten myself a good sized audience already and its only been two chapters into this fic. I'm pleased that I stumped more then a few folks with my deck design I promise it will be made more clear as the duel progresses. Thanks again to everyone who continues to read this surprisingly successful little side project. The best thing is the delight in finding it easier to update more quickly with each chapter posted. Hopefully this newfound enthusiasm will carry over into my main fanfic 'The Girl Who Loved a Monster' a Teen Titans fic which I would love anyone who likes this story to check out too. But now that I'm done flapping my gums lets get back to the action shall we? Enjoy!

I watched with a small amount of glee as the vial Kozaky had hurled at Archfiend Soldier started to make the creature do its best impression of the Wicked Witch of the West melting into a puddle of purple goo. All that was missing was for it to have been screaming 'I'm melting I'm melting oh what a world…' but eh, you can't have everything. It was likely premature at best but I couldn't resist rubbing it in, just a little. "HOO-HAH! How do you like THAT blondie? Your not the only one who can think up ridiculously elaborate combos." I declared puffing out my chest though considering what a skinny build I have this only made my ribs seem more visible underneath my shirt. Confidence and hope withstanding I was just not cut out to be a hero.

Through the smoke the deceased Archfiend Soldier's gooey remains were giving off was the distinct sound of Yami Marik's deranged laughter. "Actually, I like it quite a bit, especially since by destroying my monster you've activated my trap card Rope of Spirit!" From the puddle of sludge emerged a shrieking phantom that flew into Yami Marik's deck making it glow with black flames. "You see when a monster on my field is destroyed and sent to the graveyard I can select any four star monster from my deck and summon it to the field." The madman quickly explained taking his deck and fanning it out searching through it before selecting a card and slapping it onto the tray. "Of course I have to pay a thousand life points, but to summon yet another loyal servant to aid in your destruction it's a small price to pay! Now arise Emissary of the Afterlife (1600, 600) you have a stray soul that needs to be collected " He said even as the flames from before ate away at his skin lowering his life points to 7000. From the shadows a chilling moan arose followed by a floating apparition dressed in the black robes of Death itself a gnarled sickle in its gaunt fleshless hands swinging it in a wide arc as though eager to tear into my monsters.

"Big deal, in case you weren't paying attention my Stumbling card forces every monster either of us summon to defense mode for a turn." I pointed out, even as I said it the magic of my continuous spell card forced the Emissary to the ground making it wail fighting against the force that pinned it.

"Heh, you make it almost sound like I should care. Your little combo was not something I was expecting I admit freely. But I'm not so easily surprised twice in one duel. Will that conclude you move boy?" He asked with mock politeness.

I wanted to say no and he would wait until I was damn near ready out of sheer stubbornness but looking at the last few cards in my hand I realized I really didn't have a choice. "Oh fine, I set two cards facedown and end my turn." I grumbled the two brown backed card images appearing on either side of my Stumbling spell giving me a small illusion of security. However I knew all too well that the longer this duel dragged on the more my chances of surviving would plummet.

"Excellent," Yami Marik said eagerly drawing and looking over his hand. "Hmm, oh the many ways I could take you apart how ever will I choose? I know, why don't I let YOU choose, I play the spell card Painful Choice!" He said revealing the infamous card that Gozoboro Kaiba had used in his short but deadly duel with Seto Kaiba. Five cards were taken from his deck the images revealing themselves to me. From left to right there was King of Yamimaki (2000, 1530), Reaper of the Cards (1380, 1930), PumpKing the King of Ghosts (1800, 2000), Despair from the Dark (2800, 3000) and finally bringing the bizarre collection of antiquated monsters to a close Serpent Night Dragon (2350, 2400). "Well? What are you waiting for boy? Pick a card to go to my hand, choose carefully your decision may effect the outcome of this entire duel!" Yami Marik taunted.

Normally I'd be thinking up some snappy comeback but I was too busy trying to figure out what the hell all those out of date monsters were doing in his deck to say nothing of why he wanted any of them in his graveyard. The initial thought was simply that he had finally snapped completely and hadn't even thought about what he had put into this deck but Yami Marik wasn't stupid, crazy yes but not stupid. He wouldn't have filled this new deck with so many tribute monsters, particularly low power ones that had been around since the first few booster packs came out if he didn't have a way to use them effectively. I considered giving him the Serpent Night Dragon, a double tribute monster would slow him down until he got the second monster needed to summon it and then I could use my combo to take it down leaving Yami Marik's field empty. But then I remembered what I had face down on my field and thought maybe it was time I gave this guy a taste of his own medicine. "Okay, you can keep Reaper of the Cards." I said finally.

For the first time in the duel so far Yami Marik had a look of surprise on his face sending the other four monsters to the graveyard. "Is that so? You may come to regret that boy, or have you already forgotten the special ability of Reaper of the Cards? No matter what's done is done, now I sacrifice my Emissary to summon a monster face down. This activates Emissary's effect by the way, we now are allowed to each take a level three or lower normal monster from our deck and add it to our hand after showing it to our opponent. Here's hoping you'll make a smarter decision this time." He said showing me a Dragon Zombie before adding it to his hand while I chose a Science Soldier. "Of course what I failed to mention was that in reality, no matter what card you had chosen it still would result in your destruction. For my next move I play Soul Absorption followed by Soul Release removing up to five monsters in my graveyard from play though I'll only choose four, care to guess which ones?" He taunted as he took the four monsters he had selected with Painful Choice and tucked them into the depths of his cloak even as Soul Absorption activated giving him 500 more life points per monster removed from play raising him to 9000.

"Next I think its time I put all those extra life points to good use by playing Dimension Fusion, now every monster I removed from play returns to my field at the cost of 2000 life points BUT, by chaining this with Emergency Provisions and sending both it and Soul Absorption to the graveyard the additional 200 points makes up for this leaving me right back to where I started!" He gloated bolts of energy arcing wildly around him as his life points first rose even higher to 11,000 before falling back to 9000. Of course considering that at the same time a giant serpent, one eyed pumpkin ghoul, horned shadowy fiend, and a blind monstrosity with a mouth like a bear trap had appeared on Yami Marik's side of the field I hardly noticed. Sweat started running down my face as I stared down the sudden hoard of fiends, zombies and dragons Yami Marik had summoned in a single turn, truth be told this was a bit more then what I had expected from the madman and if my facedown card was going to save my ass the timing had to be flawless.

Yami Marik laughed in savage triumph as his grotesque army fully assembled itself snarling and shrieking even as they started to move to defense mode one by one. "By now I'm sure your thinking that your feeble Stumbling card will save you for a turn, well I'm sorry to disprove your little delusion but I play the final piece to my strategy-"

"OH NO YOU DON'T! Its high time I drive it into your thick skull that I'm not another of your helpless victims. Thanks to my Stumbling card your monsters have changed position meaning I can play the card I set a turn back, the trap card Tragedy. Now every defense position monster on your side of the field is blown to bits so say goodbye to all your little pets!" I snarled as the rather disturbing trap depicting a hulking creature in a trench coat and hat looming over a screaming woman appeared. The recently summoned monsters screamed in pain as a series of five explosions consumed his field reducing them to cinders their cries echoed by their master's own howl of fury. When the smoke cleared Yami Marik stood there his entire field gone and with it the look of smug triumph that had been on his face seconds before now replaced by a look of pure hatred. "Oh I'm sorry, did I ruin your big plan? Funny I seem to recall something about you 'not being so easy to fool twice in a duel'." I said giving him a Cheshire cat grin.

Yami Marik trembled in barely suppressed rage as he looked at the only two cards left in his hand, one of which had been Curse of Fiend, and gritted his teeth. "I play Pot of Greed drawing two new cards," He said his voice almost a wolfish growl the veins snaking over his face throbbing angrily almost ripping the cards out of his deck. As he looked them over the murderous glint in his eyes seemed to subside a little even managing a wheezing chuckle. "Hmm, not bad boy, I have to admit you've managed to squirm your way out of your inevitable death longer then I expected. Perhaps I should stop underestimating you and treat you as more then just a minor nuisance. I'll set a monster face down and end my turn." He said his voice now far softer and even more unsettling in its own way then his earlier harsh tone.

I gave him a wary look as I drew, normally loud villains going quiet was like entering the eye of an F-5 hurricane, first there was the lull that lowered your guard and then all hell breaks loose. I needed to make sure I had as many resources to work with as possible to deal with his next move and, as much as I hated to do it, it would mean giving Yami Marik more ammunition for whatever strategy was behind this deck. "I play Card of Sanctity, so hurry up and draw your cards and spare me the gloating for once will ya?" I grumbled as we each drew until we had six cards in our hand.

"Now whatever can you mean boy? I'm crushed that you would spite me with such baseless accusation." Yami Marik crowed an eyebrow arching so high it almost blended with his hairline as he drew a hand of six cards his eyes hungrily raking over them his eyes gleaming with anticipation.

My left eye twitched and I mumbled something under my breath about how it would make more sense to give this guy a straight jacket then a Duel Disk before summoning Science Soldier (800, 800). Kozaky dug into a pocket and pulled out a remote pressing a button. Immediately a siren began to go off and the armored laser rifle toting soldier appeared taking a defensive position next to Kozaky and Cat-Nipped Kitty aiming his rifle at anything that moved. I mulled over my options in my head before giving a small shrug. Sure it was a total stab in the dark, but hey sometimes that's all you can do to take care of a hidden threat. "Kozaky light that monster up and clear his field!" I said the little fiend scientist hefting another beaker this one filled with a red substance.

Yami Marik's eyes suddenly lit up flipping over a facedown card. "You played right into my hands boy! I activate Calamity of the Wicked destroying EVERY spell and trap card on the field, so say goodbye to your Stumbling card and with it the one thing keeping my forces at bay!" He roared in glee as a dark whirlwind swept through the area. However when my face down card was swept into the hurricane Kozaky grabbed Cat Nipped Kitty and dove for cover his hands over his head before my facedown exploded the debris flattening Yami Marik against a wall of the arena his life points dropping to 8000 taking away the last of the benefits of his earlier combo.

"Look before you leap gruesome, you might have taken down a key piece of my strategy but you also destroyed Kozaky's Self Destruct Button blasting away a thousand of your life points." I said defiantly.

Yami Marik was silent for a few seconds his head hanging limply as he sat in a heap on the ground before giving a wheezy cackle and snapping his fingers. No sooner had he done this then a purplish mist appeared a golden hybrid of an insect and a serpent appearing with a hiss curling up in defense mode. "Look before you leap? Why my dear boy that's EXACTLY what I did. The card I has next to my Calamity of the Wicked was Fiend Statue of the Wicked, an ideal match for such a destructive card. Now I have another servant to shield my life points with in the form of the Fiend Statue token (1000, 1000) you see before you." He rasped his eyes gleaming.

"Oh yeah? Well if memory serves that means the battle is reset, so I'll resume attacking your facedown with Kozaky!" Again the fiend smashed a beaker into the facedown card this time making it burst into a shower of goo. Before I had time to ask what was going on I yelped as some of it landed on me and burned at my skin dropping my life points down to 7450. As I watched two pieces of the goo quivered and formed two large pulsing spheres of tissue that were perhaps one of the most infamous low level fiends in the game. "Giant Germ (1000, 100), why am I not surprised?" I said with a grimace as the aforementioned germs bobbed gently in the air like filthy slime filled balloons.

Yami Marik gave a warbling cackle like a hyena as he slowly staggered to his feet. "I told you I was through underestimating your strength, and I'm not one to make empty threats. You've only barely managed to hold your own against me thus far yet you've only seen a glimpse of this deck's power. One way or another the shadows of the past will destroy your future!"

WHEW! Ya know this chapter would have been out a few days earlier but I got a sudden inspiration for that Painful Choice/Soul Release/Dimension Fusion combo and after that the ideas started to come pouring out LOL The battle has begun to rage in earnest now and trust me when I say Yami Marik and I are just getting warmed up! Next chapter I finally start to unveil some of my original card designs and if you think Yami Marik's got some nasty critters up his sleeves you haven't seen ANYTHING yet. Here's hoping you guys are having as much fun reading this as I am writing and I'll be sure to update soon. Ta-ta for now!


	4. Chapter 4

Dream Duel

By Metal Overlord 2.0

Four chapters already, who would have thought it? Its no exaggeration that this story is starting to take on a momentum of its own ideas are popping into place with every moment that I spend writing this and ideas I already used in the prototype duel I started with are becoming more streamlined and fluent. What does it all mean? No clue but it certainly sounds interesting LOL In all seriousness I continue to extend my thanks to everyone who continues to read this fic I am truly surprised at how many people have displayed an interest in my second piece of work on this site. And by the way thanks Nathan for pointing out my small mistake in my last chapter where Yami Marik set twice in one turn, when the ideas start flowing from your fingertips and taking life on the screen you can forget things like that while gripped in the thrill of creation LOL Anyhow as promised in my last chapter your going to be witnesses to some of my brand new card deigns, one of which should be VERY familiar to any Dragon Ball Z fans in the audience heh heh, but enough spoilers, ON WITH THE FIC!

"So, care to make any more amateurish mistakes this turn? Considering how helpful your being I'll gladly wait my turn while you hand me victory on a silver platter on your own turn!" Yami Marik said with a smug grin as his two Giant Germs and Fiend Statue Token stood ready to carry out his next orders. Considering that along with having three monsters on his side of the field and had his life points at their maximum 8000 I wasn't in the best position. Sure I still had Kozaky, Cat Nipped Kitty and Science Soldier but without Stumbling the combo was far less effective as before.

However, that didn't mean I couldn't set up a new defense for now to stall until I drew the card I needed to get back in this duel. "Sorry but that's the last freebie your gonna get from me for a while, I play Double Summon giving me an extra normal summon this turn, so I'll send Science Soldier to the barracks until further duty," The soldier snapped a salute to Kozaky and I vanishing. "So I can make way for a beast that's a real blast from the past, Big Tusked Mammoth (2000, 1000)" I slapped the card down. At first nothing happened, but a second later there was a series of strong vibrations in the ground as though something huge was coming our way. Suddenly a wall next to me was broken down and an enormous wooly mammoth appeared with a thunderous trumpeting roar lining Yami Marik in the middle of its tusks like the site to a gun pawing the ground ready to gore him at a moment's notice. "Lastly I play Rare Gold Armor equipping it to Cat Nipped Kitty," The little kitten tilted its head to one side and gave a puzzled mewl as its fur began to turn a golden tint. "Now my Kitty's the only monster you can attack, and since it can't be targeted as long as another beast type monster is on my field, like my Big Tusked Mammoth, I seem to have you in a lock. Back to you blondie." I said feeling a bit better now that I had erected another line of defense against whatever the madman might throw at me next.

Yami Marik was about to draw when he paused. "Before I continue my assault I must confess the exact nature of your deck has been nagging me for some time. First reptiles, then beasts, then fiends, warriors and another beast? If you hadn't managed to elude destruction for the last few turns I would think your deck was merely a smattering of random cards. But that's not the case is it?" He demanded narrowing his eyes at me in an intensely scrutinizing fashion as though trying to peer into my very soul to find the nature of my unorthodox deck construction.

"Heh, I was hoping you would ask sooner or later?" I said pushing up my glasses and grinning like a fool. "Well if you MUST know I like to call this deck 'The Island of Kozaky', a title I based off of the classic mad scientist film 'The Island of Dr. Moreau'. Quite simply it's a deck I designed around Kozaky, a fiend that I've always felt never was given the credit he truly deserved. I mean, who do you suppose made all those cutting edge machines like the Cyber Dragons or Cyber Stein eh? Who thought up the designs for complicated gadgets like the Different Dimension Gate or the Power Bond fusion technique? Kozaky might have very well been behind almost all of the technical aspects of the Duel Monsters world yet people STILL treat him as little more then Crush Card bait or a Human Wave deck option. So I built a deck that gave the little guy full access to all the experimental weapons, genetically engineered beasties, and cunning traps that any mad scientist needs to outwit opponents who are stronger or faster then him and show every one who doubted his abilities just what he can do!" I said my voice filled with pride. Kozaky appeared to have been deeply moved by my speech and was blowing into a handkerchief stuffing it back into his coat pocket and giving me a thumbs up which I gladly returned.

Yami Marik on the other hand looked like he was about to gag. "Blech! Could you BE any more sentimental? It would have been less agonizing to take a direct attack from that mangy museum display reject then to hear any more of your drivel! Fortunately," He said managing to compose himself after drawing his card. "I can ease my churning stomach with some well needed destruction and loss of life, and thanks to the card I just drew I'm about to do just that! I'll start by playing Share the Pain! Now we each select a monster from our field and destroy it. I'll dispose of one of my Giant Germs and now you must choose a monster to destroy as well." He said as the floating germ exploded into goo.

I bit down the urge to curse as I looked between my three monsters. If I gave up Cat Nipped Kitty then the lock would fall apart and if I gave up Big Tusked Mammoth I'd still be exposed, knowing what I had to do I hesitated before I finally slumped my shoulders in defeat. "I choose Kozaky." I said bitterly the mad scientist turning back his head and giving me a comforting glance before he vanished in a far less violent fashion then the Giant Germ had. Cat Nipped Kitty looked around crying pitifully for its master while Big Tusked Mammoth dipped its head and gave a sad groan.

Yami Marik closed his eyes and gave a sigh of contentment as he saw my pained expression. "Ahh the anguish on a mortal's face as a loved one is torn from their grasp, how I have missed it so dearly." He mused dreamily. "But don't worry boy, you'll be joining your little friend soon enough. But if your truly that distraught perhaps I can give you someone new to play with? You've seen a fraction of my deck and now that you've managed to last this long its time I show you some of the more powerful demons of the past that lurk within this deck. I sacrifice Giant Germ and my Fiend Statue token to summon a monster to whom the very fabric of reality is its plaything. Please give a warm welcome for my newest weapon…JANEMPA THE CHAOS CHILD!!! (1000, 1000)" He roared his eyes wide with insanity as the two monsters he had left on the field seemed to melt and mold into a single pile of purplish sludge. Slowly, the slime began to expand and inflate like a balloon its hide turning yellow large stubby limbs starting to emerge from its growing body. First a pair of small toeless feet appeared with thick squat legs and a long tail. Then an incredibly chubby torso with four gaping holes in the chest almost looking like cannons or steam vents. A pair of pudgy arms came next each one ending with three fingers. Finally the enormous creature reached into its still empty neck cavity and pulled out a nose less almost infant like face with large vacant eyes, a huge dopey smile and ridges along its head.

The end result was what appeared to be a cross between a Tellatubby and Godzilla the massive creature clapping its hands hard enough to shake the ground. "JANEMPA! JANEMPA! JANEMPA WHOO!" It bellowed as a strange energy around it started to change the arena around us. Next thing I knew we were standing in what looked like a giant crudely made cloud, it almost looked like something out of a child's drawing. Enormous jelly beans and candy floated around us and the sky was a brilliant shade of pink. "Oh-kay, out of all the possible things I would have expected from you this was not one of them." I said after managing to get my jaw off the floor.

"True, compared to some of my more horrific beasts such as the Winged Dragon of Ra or Hellpoemer Janempa seems almost docile in nature. However just as he was in 'Fusion Reborn' a movie which you have always been an avid fan of, there is far more to my monster then diapers and giggles. To make up for his low attack score for a double tribute monster Janempa has the power to attack you DIRECTLY, thus getting me around the problem of your little lock. However," He said giving an irritated look at my Big Tusked Mammoth. "Your hairy friend's effect prevents my monsters from attacking on the turn they are summoned….that is if I didn't have the handy spell card Quick Attack, now my monster can attack you immediately and display the true scope of his power!" At this Yami Marik clapped his hands the sound getting Janempa's attention. The massive creature waddled around on his feet and peered down at the tiny blond maniac tilting his head to one side. "JANEMPA?". Yami Marik pointed at me, then to him and punched the palm of his hands going slowly as to make sure the infant like monster had followed along. Janempa was still for a moment but then beamed nodding eagerly. Standing up again Janempa started to wind up his fist as though getting read to throw a punch though he was facing to the left of me. Then with a little grunt he hurled his fist into the air-

-Which was suddenly swallowed up by a strange vortex his arm going all the way into it. A second vortex appeared above my head and I had just enough time to say. "Mommy." Before Janempa's big fat fist came plummeting down on my head smashing an imprint into the surface of the cloud. When my life points hit 6450 and Janempa finally withdrew his hand there were stars and birds flying around my head my eyes spinning in their head. "Please stand by we are experiencing technical difficulties, please hang up and dial again." I said in a daze feeling like I had just gotten hit by a car all over again.

Janempa put his hands to his mouth and gave a deafening giggle at his handiwork doing a bizarre little dance that involved hopping from one foot, shouting "JA!" Then hopping to the other one "NEM." And finishing it with a hop into the air and them coming crashing down holding onto his toes and squealing "BAAAAAAAAAA!!!" landing hard enough to send everything not nailed down (which included me, Yami Marik, and my two monsters Cat Nipped Kitty wisely clinging to Big Tusked Mammoth rather then accidentally be squished underfoot). When he had regained his footing Yami Marik gave a fresh peal of laughter. "Not quite so innocent now is he boy? And it gets even better! Whenever Janempa makes a successful direct attack he gets to make a few friends to join him on every available zone on my field." Janempa reached down and took a big handful of the cloud and started to roll it in his fingers like Play-Doh, in a matter of seconds he had made a crude tiny figure which he set down next to him and zapped with his finger turning it into a miniature copy of himself that started to jump up and down and trilling. "Janempa!" In a squeaky voice. The big Janempa repeated this three more times until there were four of the little doppelgangers squeaking and bouncing and frolicking across Yami Marik's field. "As you can see now I have four Janempa Tokens (0, 0) and as long as even one of them is on the field the original Janempa cannot be selected as an attack target. There is a slight drawback to this however, none of the Janempa tokens can be used for sacrifices but it hardly matters with this kind of power. A face down card just for insurance and I do believe that will be all."

I shook my head to chase away the last of the tweeting songbirds. Though as soon as I saw what I had just drawn that cleared my head a lot more then any amount of head shaking would do (plus it wouldn't result in brain damage). It was a Polymerization card, not all that special, except I had never used it in my original Kozaky deck, the only fusion I could think of that would be a part of it was part of a set of support cards for Kozaky that I had thought up a while back. And right here, in my hand, was the material needed to bring it out! I wasn't sure if this was going to work, but what the hell, if Yami Marik had been able to make a fictional creature like Janempa and make him into a card, why shouldn't it work for me? "Okay gruesome, I wasn't expecting you to use a villain from a Japanese anime for this duel, but if your going to use made up cards then I'll just have to match you move for move! First comes Dark Factory of Mass Production, this lets me take back any two normal monsters from my graveyard and I choose Kozaky and Gagagigo," I explained taking the cards out of the graveyard slot and holding them in my hot little hand once more. "Next I'll summon Kozaky back to the field," The fiendish mad scientist hopped back onto the field Cat Nipped Kitty giving a loud meow of joy and launching itself at his leg purring like a car engine. "And now I play Polymerization fusing the Cat Nipped Kitty on my field and the second Kozaky in my hand to bring out one of MY secret weapons," As it was snuggling against Kozaky's leg Cat Nipped Kitty started to glow and change in shape. "So say hello to the card inspired by my sweetheart Jenny Gray, KOZAKY'S SEXY KITTY! (500, 500)"

With a flash of light and a loud sultry "MEOW!" Cat Nipped Kitty had transformed into a busty humanoid version of itself her (there was now not even the slightest doubt about her gender) feminine features accented by a tight fitting lab coat and skirt. The new and improved cat girl blinked her gorgeous green eyes and looked about a bell hanging from a necklace around her neck jingling while her long brown hair whipped about. As soon as she saw Kozaky KSK gave a cry of joy glomping the little mad scientist and wrapping herself around him cradling his now scarlet face to her bosom hearts around her head purring in joy. Yami Marik make a strangled choking noise in the back of his throat looking downright horrified at the heartwarming display while Janempa and his little clones actually seemed delighted laughing jovially and clapping their hands. "Heh, you'd think that just looking that good would be a power all in itself but Kozaky's Sexy Kitty has quite a few tricks of her own to help protect her little purple heartthrob. As long as she's on the field any card with the word 'Kozaky' in its name gains 500 attack and defense points including herself. Not only that but as long as she's around no other card with 'Kozaky' in its name can be targeted as an attack target." I said even as the scores for both Kozaky and KSK changed respectively (400-900, 400, 900) (500-1000, 500-1000) "So if I were you Yami Marik I wouldn't get too comfy behind Janempa's big fat yellow tushie just yet because one way or another Kozaky and I are gonna strut our stuff on your smoldering carcass by the time this duel's done!"

WHOO! I can't begin to tell you all how excited I am to unveil my first two original cards on this fanfic! I'm such a huge fan of video games, cartoons and comics so I've always wanted to make some of my favorite villains and heroes (but mostly villains admittedly LOL) into all new card designs. In my original prototype fic I only had a few of these all new cards, most of them Kozaky support cards like KSK, but here is where I lend a hand to you, the audience. If you guys have any ideas for possible villains, heroes, or things in between to be among the cards used in this duel by all means send me some ideas in your reviews. I already have a few knocking about in the ol' noggin but it never hurts to see what the public wants. My only request is that the cards you send are able to be used in either my or Yami Marik's current decks, otherwise I'll have all these great card ideas and nothing to use them in….yet LOL But in any case thank you everyone for helping make such a fun project such a rewarding experience and I'll be sure to update soon, ta-ta for now!

Oh, and before I forget, here are the specs for my original cards so far

Janempa the Chaos Child

Level 8 Dark Attribute

Fiend/effect

1000 attack

1000 defense

Image: Janempa sitting on a pile of giant jelly beans beaming at the sky in childish glee as the universe warps and mutates around him.

Text: 'Seemingly docile, this monster is the product of centuries are negative energy and has the power to rend reality to bits' This card can attack your opponent directly. If a successful attack on your opponent's life points are made special summon one 'Janempa Token (0, 0) for every empty zone on your field. These cannot be used as a tribute and as long as at least one if on the field 'Janempa the Chaos Child' cannot be targeted by an attack

This card is based off the character of the same name from the Dragon Ball Z movie 'Fusion Reborn' all creative rights go to Funimation Entertainment

Kozaky's Sexy Kitty

Level 3 Earth Attribute

Beast-Warrior/fusion/effect

500 attack

500 defense

Image: A gorgeous purple furred cat girl in a busty lab coat hugging a blushing Kozaky hearts around her head and a fanged chibi smile of joy on her face.

Text: 'A lonely girl Kozaky saved from the brink of death by genetic engineering, she will follow him to the ends of the Earth to be with him' As long as this card is face up on the field no other card with the word 'Kozaky' in its name can be targeted for an attack. All monsters with the word 'Kozaky' in their names including 'Kozaky's Sexy Kitty' gain 500 attack and defense points.


	5. Chapter 5

Dream Duel

By Metal Overlord 2.0

I am SOOOO sorry it took this long to update everybody! My computer crapped out on me, thanks to a misunderstanding in taking proper care of it, so I've been scrambling to get it fixed and now that it is I can FINALLY get back to my writing. Sincere thanks to those of you who decided to stick around since I have a few days off to use I figured I might as well start getting back in the swing of things so, without further delay, lets kick off my fifth chapter to date, enjoy!

Its not everyday you find yourself facing down a giant demonic infant controlled by the evil alter ego of the heir to an ancient Egyptian clan with nothing but a wooly mammoth, diminutive mad scientist, and said mad scientist's hot cat girl lab assistant to back you up, at least usually not without ingesting quite a few illegal substances. For the last few turns it seemed like I was getting nowhere with Yami Marik and I figured that as long as he had some perfectly good targets in the form of his four Janempa tokens, each one with a grand total of zero attack points, I might as well try and do some damage.

"Okay blondie, since she was just summoned to the field Kozaky's Sexy Kitty can't attack this turn, but that doesn't mean I can't destroy two of your tokens with Kozaky and Big Tusked Mammoth!" I said as the mammoth bellowed a challenge charging at one of the chubby yellow tokens with Kozaky hitching a ride on top of its head. The Janempa token just sat there seemingly clueless to the four hundred plus pounds of pachyderm heading its way, but Yami Marik was a bit quicker to react.

"Oh please, I activate my facedown, Corpse Shield!" He declared a trap rising up depicting Marauding Captain running his sword through a fiend being held out in front of Dark Ruler Ha Des. "For every monster I sacrifice on the field I can negate the attack of one opponent's monster. So I destroy two tokens keeping both your monsters from attacking this turn. Shame too, you almost managed to do quite a bit of damage." Yami Marik said crossing his arms and giving me a smug leer.

Two of the Janempa Tokens suddenly inflated like big yellow balloons before bursting to bits. The dust that remained flew into Big Tusked Mammoth's face blinding it and preventing it from locating the remaining tokens. Finally it gave up and trudged dejectedly back to my side of the field. Kozaky hopped off and gave me a helpless shrug turning to clean up the mammoth's fur KSK helping him out. I grumbled something under my breath about how the bad guys always had some cheap way to avoid defeat and set a facedown card ending my turn.

Yami Marik drew quickly and grinned widely at what he had just drawn. "Pay close attention boy, very few have laid eyes on what I'm about to play, its one of the cornerstones of my new strategy. I discard one level five or higher Dark attribute monster, like Spike Bot (1800,1700) to special summon Dark Grepher (1700,1600) from my hand!" He slapped down a card onto the tray and a pool of black sludge appeared on his side of the field. From its depths rose a grey skinned warrior with pure white hair, blood red eyes and jet black beastly looking armor a pale purple bladed sword in one hand. The warrior gave a nasty grin running his tongue along the flat end of his blade before giving it a few practice swings.

I cringed from the unsanitary display before noticing something eerily familiar about Yami Marik's latest monster, aside from the warrior it was obviously based on I mean. "Wait a minute, I've seen that card before, its part of a new booster pack coming out that uses Dark Monsters, what was it called…oh yeah, 'Phantom Darkness'!" I said smacking my palm with my fist. "That explains why you have so many crappy high level Darkness monsters, and here I thought you had just gone off the deep end."

Yami Marik clapped his hands in mock applause at this. "Bravo, I was wondering when it would sink into that thick skull of yours. That's correct, this deck was formed using key components from the 'Phantom Darkness' set. But that's only part of the reason I made this deck. Do you know what I have in common with most of the cards you've seen so far in this duel?" He asked.

"Uhh, their ugly as hell, unpleasant in the extreme and better left to rot?" I said before I even had a chance to think about my answer. Sometimes I have this really bad habit of shooting my mouth before I think through what I'm about to say.

Yami Marik's left eye briefly started to suffer from a rather serious twitch. With a wolfish snarl he tore a card from his hand and showed it to me, revealing it to be Meteor of Destruction, before slamming it into his tray almost hard enough to bend the cardboard backing. A flaming meteor appeared in the sky above him growing in size and momentum in a matter of seconds until it was baring right down on me.

"I really got to learn to stop putting my foot in my mo-ARRGGHH!" Was about as far as I got before around seventy pounds of flaming death came crashing down on me burning away a thousand of my life points and leaving me with 5450 and in a world of pain.

"Care to try again?" Yami Marik said a sweetness to his voice that was like poisoned honey.

"Urrggh, tell you what, how about you tell me the answer while I quietly lie here and deal with about twelve different varieties of second degree burns?" I groaned. Big Tusked Mammoth crouched down and blasted a stream of cold air from his trunk cooling me down while Kozaky went to work with a First Aid kit KSK acting as a nurse. I felt a great deal of fondness for them as they did this and made a mental note not to lose their cards if I ever woke up from this nightmare.

Yami Marik bared his teeth and gave a wheezing snicker. "Fair enough. The answer to my question as to what I have in common with the monsters I've built this deck around is this: we were both left behind while those around us moved on with their lives. In both our worlds for every booster pack and promotional set of cards that are released there are hundreds of cards that are tossed away like so much trash. I'm sure you know of what I speak of, the swarms of spoiled greedy little brats who for every new holographic super rare or matching set of popular cards they throw dozens more away. Normally I wouldn't so much as give a second's thought as to what these cards have experienced, but after my former host left me to rot in the Shadow Realm in the exact same way I found a sort of…sympathy, for them." He explained idly stroking the top of his deck as he spoke.

"They came to me you see, as I was cast adrift in the darkness one by one the duel spirits of those countless cards forsaken by their former owners found me and nourished me with their unifying hatred for the people who had betrayed them. I offered my host the limitless power of the Pharaoh on a silver platter yet he failed to develop the spine to do so merely because he was too squeamish to abandon his so called 'family'. But in doing so he also did me a small favor. Ever since my link with his soul was severed I've felt the darkness inside me harden and purify, like a diamond forming in a mound of coal. Now, with a loyal army of beasts from the dawn of Duel Monsters at my disposal and a whole new world to conquer, YOUR world, I am poised to force open the eyes of those who forgot me, and burn my existence into their hearts forever!" He roared spreading his arms out and giving a howling gale of triumphant laughter that had even Janempa quaking in fear.

After he finally stopped laughing about a minute later he cleared his throat and composed himself (or at least made his insanity a little less obvious). "But my time for story telling is over I'm afraid, what its time for now is for you to DIE! I activate Dark Grepher's second effect, by discarding one Dark monster in my hand I can send another from my deck to the graveyard," He took a card from his hand and slid another from his deck to the discard pile. "For every card that's sent to my graveyard my deck's power grows, I play a handy little card known as Beginning of the End. Since there are at least seven Dark monsters in my graveyard I can remove five from play and in exchange draw three cards. So I bid farewell to Reaper of the Cards, Emissary of the Afterlife, Archfiend Soldier, and the Armored Zombie and Dragon Zombie I just discarded with Dark Grepher's effect." He took the five mentioned cards and put them away in his cloak before drawing three more cards.

"Are you going to finish your turn sometime this year? I appreciate you giving me time to heal but I've seen snails that move faster then your going." I growled wincing as Kozaky bandaged up more of me. When he was done he offered me a mirror making me cringe, I looked less like my usual messy haired unshaven self and more like a freaking mummy. Though on the plus side if I didn't wear my glasses I now had a slight resemblance to Shishio Makoto from 'Rurouni Kenshin', not much of a silver lining but at least it wasn't my actual body that had gotten flame broiled.

Yami Marik cackled giving an overly dramatic bow. "But of course, I was just getting to the best part after all. The part where Janempa attacks you directly!" At this Janempa yelped and hastily wound up another punch obviously not wanting to be on the receiving end of his master's wrath like I had. However unlike the last time he had nailed me into the ground I was ready for him.

"Sorry boys, fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on, uh, shame on…." I trailed off forgetting the rest of my witty banter and feeling very much like a doofus before scowling and hitting a button on my Duel Disk. "Oh the hell with it I just activate Zero Gravity, lets see Janempa attack while he's in defense mode!" A powerful semi invisible wave of energy swept through the field and suddenly all our monsters started to float into the air. After a few seconds the gravity kicked back on and all our monsters landed in their opposite positions prior my trap. Kozaky was the only one who had a relatively soft landing but only because he happened to land right on top of KSK. This left them in a position that ended in embarrassment and neither of them being able to look each other directly in the eye for a while both red in the face.

But most notably Janempa was now on his stomach and wriggling frantically trying reach the ground with his stubby little arms so he could push himself up while his token doppelgangers looked around puzzled to be in attack mode. Dark Grepher was nursing a bump on the head and glaring daggers at me. Though compared to the look Yami Marik was giving me his looked almost friendly. An unintelligible snarl, a face down card and a vague hand gesture (one that I suspected was signaling more then just my turn) later it was back to me.

Before I drew I paused and took a deep breath. I had a grand total of one card in my hand (Gagagigo) and if I didn't get something good fast the last few remnants of my strategy would be torn to shreds leaving me a sitting duck. "Okay now the Heart of the Cards has been done WAY too many times in the show to be much good, and I try not to pray to any particular gods to avoid any awkward meetings in the next life soooo, lets hope for the best and rely on good old fashioned blind luck." With that I drew keeping my eyes shut until I was relatively sure it was safe and peeked at what I had drawn.

"OH YEAH! Now THAT'S what I'm talking about baby! Score one for avoiding done to death cliché's!!" I roared jumping up and down as best I could while still bandaged up. "I play one of Kaiba's best known drawing tools, Card of Demise, in exchange for discarding my hand five turns from now I get five, count 'em, FIVE new cards." I said eagerly yanking five more cards out of my deck. When I saw my new hand a grin split my face that made Yami Marik's look almost tame. "So you like inflicting pain do you? Well lets see how YOU like it you spiky headed little twerp! Come on out Masked Chopper (100,100)!" I crowed playing a card.

With a piercing tribal war cry what looked like a furry football with silver dreadlocks and a tiki mask dashed out from behind a boulder and landed on my field brandishing two enormous machetes and scaring the crap out of KSK who leapt into Kozaky's arms the poor little mad scientist straining to hold her up winding up falling over and taking her with him. My newest monster looked around before spotting Yami Marik and babbling something in a weird language waving his blades threateningly.

"I see, and what exactly is this…thing, going to do? Aside from make a spectacle of itself I mean." My opponent asked snidely clearly not at all impressed.

"Oh you'll see, you'll ALL see!" I said throwing back my head and giving my best mad scientist laugh. All I got was a sore throat and a few odd looks from my monsters, though Kozaky held up a board with a hastily drawn six on it giving me points for effort. "Heh, sorry maybe I should leave the actual mad scientist stuff to the professionals, anyway Masked Chopper has an effect that works PERFECTLY with my deck, but before I show you I play Double Attack. By discarding a monster with a higher level then Masked Chopper, like Gogiga Gagagigo, my monster can attack twice. But wait, there's more! I equip Kozaky's Sexy Kitty with a spell card called Previous Life." A card appeared behind KSK showing a phantom image of Frontier Wiseman holding back Dark Balter the Terrible's hand as it prepared to attack a cowering peasant. A soft blue light emerged emanated from it casting her in its glow.

"This equip card only works with fusion monsters. If one of the fusion material monsters had any effects then once per either of our turn I can choose one and then my fusion monster is able to use it as its own. So I'll pick Cat Nipped Kitty's defense lowering ability and turn Grepher's defense score to zero." Instead of nuzzling his leg like she did as Cat Nipped Kitty KSK struck a pose and gave Dark Grepher a wink. The dark beast warrior seemed to be a bit sturdier to her charms however and merely scowled though his face reddened his defense becoming non existent. "Okay guys lets get to work! Masked Chopper do me a favor and take care of those Janempa tokens will ya?"

The little native monster dashed across the field holding his machetes over his head before carving both tokens into a surprising number of pieces in a display of dismemberment that would have made Jason Voorhees proud. Yami Marik winced a bit as his life points dropped slightly to 7800 but shrugged it off opening his mouth to mock me before screaming in pain and surprise when Masked Chopper made a pass at HIM this time crossing his blades across his chest leaving a crimson 'X' his life points taking a sharp drop all the way to 3800.

"Oh I'm sorry, did I forget to mention that for every monster Masked Chopper destroys in battle you take two thousand points of effect damage? Funny I could have sworn I did," I said tapping my chin in fake contemplation before shrugging. "Well moving right along I'll have KSK attack Dark Grepher. Lets see how your little swordsman likes getting his ass kicked by a girl." KSK grinned and, after giving Kozaky a peck on the cheek bounded on all fours at Dark Grepher.

The shadow warrior gave raised his sword and snarled at KSK, who upon seeing this gave a yowl of alarm and skidded to a stop looking far less confident now. Dark Grepher sneered clearly thinking he had nothing to fear from such a timid creature and slid his sword into his sheathe, and in doing so made his first and last mistake.

As soon as his sword was no longer within range KSK gave a grin that was all fang and no cheer and lunged bringing up her claws and starting to scratch at his face leaving angry red marks all over his face. Bellowing in pain he tried to protect his face with his arms, but this only gave KSK an even better target hauling back her left leg and smashing her knee into his crotch. Spittle burst from Dark Grepher's mouth as he fell to his side clutching himself in pain before he vanished along with his pride. Kozaky's Sexy Kitty gave a sniff of disdain before happily returning to Kozaky's side nuzzling her head against his hip and purring her heart out. Once he managed to get his jaw back off the floor after her vicious display the little mad scientist all too happily rewarded her for a job well done petting her behind the ears fondly.

"Just consider yourself lucky I didn't save her attack until you were out of monsters pal, but that won't save you from Kozaky once my Big Tusked Mammoth attacks Janempa and tears down the last of your defenses!" I said snapping my fingers. The mammoth pawed the ground and trumpeted a challenge before taking off at full speed bearing down on the portly fiend that was all that remained on Yami Marik's field.

Janempa was still on his stomach when Big Tusked Mammoth rammed into him so his face was the first thing its huge tusks met. Instead of cracking his skull when my mammoth plowed into Janempa's head straight on his entire face seemed to compact and scrunch down his neck cavity like his whole body was made of dough. The fiend thrashed in pain muffled cries of "JANEMPA! JANEMPA! JANEMPAAA!!!!" Were heard from somewhere inside the wriggling mountain of yellow fat and fluff before it finally burst into pixels.

"And with that goes the last of your monsters Yami Marik, so unless you have a Kuriboh in your hand and want to waste it on a 900 point direct attack I'd get ready for another helping of hurt…eh?"

Instead of being upset at the loss of his monsters and so many life points Yami Marik was starting to laugh, before long he was shrieking in glee the arena around us starting to change again with Janempa's demise. "I hate to disappoint you boy, but while I'll admit I didn't expect you to do so much damage with such feeble creatures you've only drawn us deeper into the shadows. For you see, destroying Janempa the Chaos Child activated the effect of another monster in my deck, a devil forged in pure evil who can only appear when his first form is vanquished, I now call from my deck a monster more terrible then anything you've seen so far, ARISE JANEMBA THE D.D DEVIL!!!! (2800,1400)" From his deck a card flew out and, as though driven by a will of its own, landed on his disk.

As I watched with growing dread a strange energy began to emanate around us turning the arena from its previously childish setting of jelly beans and fluffy clouds to a far less cheerful den. Mountains of bones stretched as far as the eye can see around us and in the distance I could see the silhouettes of huge bronze towers spitting flames miles into the sky above us. Janempa's shattered pixels began to reform into the same thick reddish goo that the monsters Yami Marik had sacrificed to summon him only this time it shrank forming a far smaller figure.

Slowly like a sculptor giving life to a block of marble features began to appear in the slime. A tall figure emerged with skin the color of blood and clad in scaled purple armor leaving its thickly muscled forearms, and stomach bare. Three pronged hands clenched and unclenched while a thick lizard like tail twitched and swayed behind its hindquarters lashing out hard enough to smash several skulls into powder. The last of the slime formed the head of the creature the top of it covered by a helmet the same color of its armor two long tapered points on both sides of it resembling devil horns. A second after its body had fully formed the devil's eyes opened revealing a set of cold reptilian yellow eyes that held nothing that even vaguely resembled the jovial nature Janempa had possessed. This was something far darker, a creature without mercy or compassion who existed only to kill. Janemba was reborn, and only now would my battle begin in earnest.

You know, in all honestly the hardest part of this chapter was figuring out how to do little things like the scene with KSK and Kozaky landing on her after Zero Gravity, Masked Chopper's antics before and after its first battle, details that while not seeming very important at the time can really help make a fic become that much more enjoyable to read as well as write. Here's hoping everyone enjoyed finding out more about Yami Marik's new deck and of course the triumphant return of Janempa's evil alter ego Janemba (I spelt their names differently to help keep them separate so to any fellow DBZ fans in the audience don't point out any mistakes I didn't want to confuse myself LOL). I hope that this chapter was worth the wait and as always please feel free to review.

Oh, and before I forget. Since Janemba won't use any of his effects this chapter I'm going to hold off on revealing any stats on him until next time. Then I will give his full statistics and abilities. Toodles!

Original Cards

Corpse Shield

Trap Card

Type: Normal

Image: Dark Ruler Ha Des using a fiend as a shield to block a sword strike from Marauding Captain.

Effect: When an opponent declares an attack with one of their monsters you can offer any number of monsters on your side of the field as tributes to negate the attacks of the same number of monsters on your opponent's side of the field

Previous Life

Spell Card

Type: Equip

Image: Dark Balter the Terrible looming over a frightened peasant and poised to strike him. A phantom of Frontier Wiseman is beside him holding his hand back.

Effect: This card can only be equipped to a fusion monster that was summoned via fusion summon. If either of the fusion material monsters used to summon this card had an effect once during your turn you can select an effect and add it to the fusion monster's existing list of effects.


	6. Chapter 6

Dream Duel

By Metal Overlord 2.0

Nothing is more reassuring to a writer it seems then to be able to get started on your next chapter just after posting one a short time ago. Of course it also probably helps that I've been REALLY looking forward to showing off the special abilities of my latest powerhouse monster so far in this duel, the fact that its that's based off one of my favorite Anime movies of all time doesn't hurt either LOL A round of applause and gratitude for everyone who's supported me so far through this story's development. With that said lets get down to business, enjoy!

Janemba stared silently at me for what felt like an eternity his pitiless gaze seeming to bore right through me with only enough interest in my existence to consider the best way to snuff out my life. Then finally the right corner of his mouth twitched in a smirk before leaning back his head and yelling a battle cry. A gale force wind tore through the arena with the purple armored devil right in the midst of it a crimson energy dancing in the wind like leaping flames. One thing was for sure, this guy meant business.

"Can you fee it boy? Can you feel my beast's power ravaging the very fabric of reality?! THIS is the powers of true darkness!! Powers the likes of which you never had a prayer against, Janemba's first effect alone should be enough to turn the tide of this duel back to my favor. Though he is unable to attack the turn he is special summoned from my deck his very presence shatters the boundaries between life and death, enabling us both to bring back as many of our fallen monsters as we can to our fields. Janemba! Use your power and tear open the gates of hell itself so the dead may rise again!!!" Yami Marik roared in manic joy his arms wide as though embracing the raw power of his newest monster.

Janemba cranked up the intensity of his display the entire freaking dimension seeming to shake at the incredible energy he was giving off. A swarm of ghostly spirits burst from Yami Marik's graveyard flying into the mounds of bones behind him. One by one four of the beasts I had destroyed earlier returned. King Of Yamimaki, PumpKing, Spike Bot, and Despair from the Dark emerged from the mountains of brittle remains taking their place next to Janemba though only Despair seemed to be confident in his presence the weaker monsters casting fearful looks towards the devil (well except for King of Yamimaki and Spike Bot, since they didn't actually have eyes they just looked around nervously trying to sense where all this energy was coming from).

Since I already had four monsters on my field only one monster appeared from my graveyard. But as the ground around me started to shake I was feeling pretty confident about what Yami Marik had unwittingly unleashed. "Okay, I'll admit that's quite a move to pull of while its still my turn, but unfortunately for you, the monster you helped me summon makes Janemba look downright tame, you've already met Gagagigo, now allow me to introduce you to his ultimate form, normally I would have waited until I had already used Giga Gagagigo for the sake of dramatic build up, but since your already being such a drama queen I might as well take this bad boy for a spin. Say hello to my little friend Gogiga Gagagigo (2950,2800)" I said. Behind me a mountain of skulls suddenly ERUPTED showering bones over the entire field though most of them were vaporized by Janemba's aura.

What emerged from what was left of the mound was none other then the strongest normal monster in the game whose sheer destructive fury was eclipsed only by the legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon. A towering lizard like creature whose body was heavily modified with mechanical limbs and armor lurched onto my field dragging its arms behind it an awkward graceless twitch with its every movement like it wasn't even really in control of its own body anymore. Blazing red eyes swept the field devoid of anything resembling rational thought a deep guttural hiss escaping its mouth that made some primitive part of my brain want to dig a hole in the ground and hide. Instead I stood firm.

"I know what your thinking, compared to the rest of my deck the Gagagigo cards don't seem to fit into my theme. Well as it just so happens Kozaky had a hand in making Gagagigo into what he is now. It wasn't by intention I assure you, Kozaky honestly wanted to help him become strong enough to combat the forces of darkness he had once served. However the procedure that gave him his cybernetic enhancements also left severe mental deterioration as a side effect. Before long he was just another mindless beast who desired nothing but to become even stronger. So to this day Kozaky keeps Gogiga Gagagigo locked up safely in a vault deep within his lab searching for a way to reverse the treatment and restore him to his original self. But until then he certainly adds a healthy amount of muscle to my deck when my combos aren't set up yet. Let me show you what I mean, Gogiga Gagagigo, turn that PumpKing into pie!"

The lizard monster snarled but complied stalking forward before lashing out with a heavily modified claw that was more or less a cluster of metallic blades. PumpKing tried to shield itself by holding up its vines in a barrier around it but Gogiga merely carved through them before gouging out the front of its head a burst of ectoplasm and pumpkin innards spurting out before the mangled remains burst into pixels.

Before Yami Marik's life points had even finished dropping to 2650 he activated a face down card. "Impressive, but unfortunately for you I was prepared to lose a few casualties in order to use Janemba's first effect. Go Scavenger's Bounty!" Unsurprisingly the trap card that appeared was as unpleasant looking as the rest of Yami Marik's cards this one showing a flock of Yata Garasu's feasting on the remains of a dead 3-Humped Lacooda. "When a monster on my side of the field is destroyed I can remove that monster from play and gain 200 life points for every level it had. Since PumpKing was a six star monster so I get 1200 life points. Thus the damage from your attack is negated plus I get a little boost, not much of course but every little bit helps." He explained a greenish energy surrounded him raising him up to 3850.

"Oh yeah? Well don't think those extra points are going to last because I activate a Quickplay from my hand, its called Kozaky's Temporal Shifting Machine. It would make more sense just to call it 'Kozaky's Time Machine' but Bandit Keith already has that trap card with the same name sans the word 'Kozaky', but what are you gonna do? By sending a monster on my field back to my deck, another monster I control gets a second attack. So I'll give Masked Chopper a well deserved break and have Gogiga Gagagigo attack Spike Bot!" Masked Chopper gibbered in surprise as its body started to warp and fade like a mirage before I slid its card back into my deck and shuffled. The lizard monster glowed briefly and flexed its claws roaring a challenge and swiping at Spike Bot.

This time the doomed monster tried to fight back. The primitive machine swung back and dragged one of its flails towards the lizard monster's fist. The only thing this accomplished however was slow down Gogiga's fist a bit as it sheared through the iron flail like a hot knife through butter continuing forward to slice the machine's torso straight from its legs. This time Yami Marik didn't have anything to get back the life points he had lost so this time his score dipped down to 2700 and stayed there.

"Funny how so far the only thing Janemba's done is give me a bunch of targets to plow through with the monster you were nice enough to give me. I guess he's all bark and no bite." I remarked setting a facedown and ending my turn. My hand was empty again but I had a pretty good idea what Yami Marik's next move was and with a little luck my face down card would put a serious monkey wrench in his plans.

Janemba watched the still sparking remains of Spike Bot writhe and squeal with an almost bored expression. Then with a sneer he stomped down hard pulping its head into scrap metal the rest of it shattering as well. It locked eyes with Gogiga Gagagigo and gave it a feral grin apparently deeming my monster a worthy opponent.

Yami Marik noticed this and chuckled as he drew. "I wouldn't get too carried away if I were you boy, you've only seen one of Janemba's effect. You see one of Janemba's other powers is the ability to convert any form of matter around him into another form be it stone, steel, even flesh. So by removing a card in my graveyard from play, like my Spike Bot, Janemba can forge its remains into a new weapon, an equip card that only he is capable of controlling. Behold the power of the Warp Blade!"

Janemba's tail twitched flicking around and scooping up one of the broken off spikes that had been attacked to one of Spike Bot's flails. He tossed the spike up with his tail snatching it out of the air with his hand and as he held it a strange energy surrounded his arm. In the space of a heart beat the spike changed into a crimson sword the hilt the same color as his armor. Janemba grinned in satisfaction and twirled the sword expertly in one hand rolling his wrist making it circle him like a buzz saw before taking a stance with it Gogiga Gagagigo's face reflecting in the blade's surface his attack score rising to 3400.

"The Warp Blade is so sharp it not only grants Janemba an additional 600 attack points but it can carve the difference between his attack and your monster's stats out of your life points regardless of the position its in, or in layman's terms it gives him a trample effect. Now Janemba, show Gogiga Gagagigo what TRUE power is all about!" Janemba smirked and made a 'come here' gesture with his hand. Before I could do anything Gogiga Gagagigo roared charging forward and thrusting a claw at the devil's head. With astonishing agility Janemba leapt up and planted his feet on the lizard's metal knuckles and pushed sending him flying back out of harm's way. While still in midair he drew back his free hand and suddenly stretched out his entire arm like it was a piece of taffy. The ropelike appendage coiled around Gogiga Gagagigo who vainly tried to struggle before Janemba yanked hard pulling my monster forward and driving his sword straight through its skull.

The one saving grace to this was that since most of Gogiga Gagagigo had been mechanical at this point there wasn't much blood, but I still wasn't able to bring myself to watch as my monster was destroyed my life points lowering to 5000. Kozaky, KSK and Big Tusked Mammoth were more then a little afraid at the sight of my strongest monster so far being defeated so easily and frankly, I couldn't blame them.

"Ahh, revenge, truly the sweetest fruit of all," Yami Marik purred as Janemba returned to his side of the field lightly bouncing his sword on a shoulder waiting for his next kill. "Now that the one thing on your field that was actually a threat to me is gone, Despair from the Dark will rid me of your pathetic little kitten. ATTACK!" The shadowy demon cackled and flew towards KSK claws outstretched to rend her to bits. Unfortunately for him Yami Marik hadn't taken into consideration the possibility that I hadn't been able to save Gogiga because he hadn't gone after the right target.

"I was waiting for you to get sloppy and forget what kind of deck your dealing with! The first rule about messing with Kozaky is you do NOT mess with KSK, otherwise you might run into something nasty like say Kozaky's Defense Grid?" Kozaky stepped in front of KSK an enraged look on his face as he stared down Despair. The huge phantom peered down at him and gave a mocking laugh not noticing the little mad scientist press a button on his tie. The sudden sound of at least two dozen laser weapons charging up drew Despair's attention looking over its shoulder its eyes bulging at the sight of an entire platoon of Science Soldiers aiming their rifles at it targeting lights dotting its face like a bad case of acne. Trembling visibly it turned back to Kozaky and gave a far more nervous laugh then before. Kozaky gave a savage grin before pointing his thumb down. There was a collective roar of laser fire drowning out Despair's agonized shriek finally dying down twelve seconds later leaving nothing but ashes behind. "Say, your right revenge IS sweet. So how about you end your turn so I can have a second helping?" I asked with a lopsided smirk.

Yami Marik growled at this looking a bit frustrated that he was having such a hard time predicting my moves. "Insolent wretch, your lack of respect for your betters will cost you dearly once I win this duel. Before I end my turn I play Foolish Burial allowing me to take any monster from my deck and send it to my graveyard. Then I'll set a monster facedown and end my turn." He said discarding a card from his deck and adding it to his steadily growing graveyard before setting a card next to Janemba.

As I drew I made a note that this was my second turn since playing Card of Demise meaning I had three more to go before discarding my hand. Until then though I'd make sure I put the cards I drew before then to good use. "Okay, first off I activate the effect of Previous Life. This turn I'll choose KSK's added effect to be the ability to not be targeted for an attack as long as there's another beast type on my side of the field thus strengthening the lock protecting my key cards. "Next I'll play MY Pot of Greed," I drew two more cards one of them in particular catching my eye. "Oh your in for it now blondie, I summon the strongest four star monster in Duel Monsters, say hello to Giant Kozaky! (2500, 2400)"

A far larger panel then the one the laser cannons had emerged from slid open in front of us. A platform rose from the center of the arena and with it an enormous robot that bore an uncanny resemblance to Kozaky, complete with a giant steel plate on its chest in the shape of a tie. A variety of crude looking weapons including a drill, hammer and steel clamps, were attached via spindly metal arms and the whole thing was perched on huge tank treads. Kozaky eagerly climbed up a stairway on Giant Kozaky's back that ran between its metal dorsal plates and started typing away at the control panel on top of the machine's head. As KSK looked on mewling in awe he fiddled with half a dozen levers, switches and buttons before yanking a cord like a lawn mower a tremendous belch of exhaust puffing from a pipe behind the robot the entire contraption coming to life sounding like KSK's stat boost making it become even stronger (2900, 2800)

"Giant Kozaky is one of the staples every mad scientist needs around the lab, nothing says 'I have too much free time for my good or that of the world in general' like a giant robot, particularly one with this many attack points. But again, most people just breeze right by the potential mayhem this sucker can provide, except for people using Skill Drain decks. But hey, if you won't take my word for it take a look at what this bad boy can really do! Giant Kozaky attack King of Yamimaki!" I ordered.

Kozaky nodded turned a key in the control panel and the machine lurched forward picking up speed quickly as it bore down on the eyeless fiend. King of Yamimaki slammed both arms into the front of Giant Kozaky its muscles straining in an attempt to stop it. However Kozaky just popped it into third gear before bulldozing over the fiend crushing it flat. Looking over his shoulder however Kozaky gave a toothy grin popping the clutch into reverse and backed the machine over what was left for good measure leaving behind nothing but a vaguely humanoid smear on the ground. The little mad scientist cackled at his handiwork while KSK merely sat next to him sweat-dropping at the excessive display.

Yami Marik gritted his teeth and did his best to weather the pain as his life points were reduced to a paltry 1800. "I hope it was worth providing me with such a tempting target to destroy another of my monsters boy, because all that I need to destroy your oversized windup toy is one destruction spell or monster effect to remove that blasted wench from my sight so Janemba can turn it to scrap metal! And don't think I don't know about its drawback either. When Giant Kozaky is destroyed you lose 2500 life points." He warned.

"Considering I OWN the card, yeah I'm pretty sure I know how it works," I said a bit annoyed. "But until then I'm going to make sure you have as few means to take it down as possible, Big Tusked Mammoth attack his facedown!" The mammoth charged breaking the facedown card into pieces with its tusks. To my surprise a black clay jar with one bloodshot eye and a creepy grin appeared cackling as it disappeared. "A Morphing Jar huh? I suppose it fits your strategy even though its not a Dark monster." I said as both Yami Marik and I discarded are cards and drew a fresh hand of five. Considering that I had only one card before its effect had activated this was a blessing in disguise, however I wasn't about to admit that to Yami Marik anytime soon.

However I noticed that both our decks were beginning to thin a bit. I had lost track of how many times we had drawn and discarded since this whole mess started and if I didn't try and speed things up I was going to run out of cards before I ran out of life points. Fortunately, one of the cards I was holding provided me with a way to slow the process down. "Now before you go into any gloating about how I walked right into that I play the spell card Pot of Avarice. Now I select five monsters from my graveyard, add them to my deck, shuffle, and draw two cards." I explained selecting Cat Nipped Kitty, Science Soldier, Gogiga Gagagigo, a Gene Warped War Wolf (2000,0) I had discarded at the beginning of the duel for Damage Condenser, and finally my second Kozaky and shuffled them into my deck drawing two more cards giving me a grand total of six. I quickly slapped down two facedown cards and gave a nod to show my turn was over.

Yami Marik drew a card before giving a yawn. "Sadly, as entertaining as this was when we first started I'm beginning to get bored with you feeble resistance boy, so I'll speed up your demise by summoning another cornerstone of my new deck, the fiend known as Doomsday Horror! (???)" Out of the ground clambered a bizarre gangly looking creature that resembled some kind of imp or gremlin. It had jet black skin, bulging green eyes, and tiny bat wings sprouting from the top of its head. "Adorable isn't he? Doomsday Horror is in a way the distant cousin of the legendary chaos fiend, Gren Maju Da Eiza. For every Darkness monster I've removed from play it gains 300 attack and defense points. Now lets see, by my count I've removed at least seven such monsters from play that gives my little friend a grand score of 2100 each." Sure enough the little imp chattered excitedly as its score changed.

"And now, lets chip away at your precious lock shall we? Janemba, destroy Big Tusked Mammoth! OFF WITH ITS HEAD!" He commanded. Janemba grinned and spun before swinging his sword at high velocity a crimson sickle of energy flying from his blade and heading towards my mammoth who bravely lowered its tusks and prepared for the inevitable.

"Easy big guy your not keeling over just yet, ever hear of a little thing called Mirror Force?!" I asked revealing the infamous trap card. The sickle of energy struck the dome of reflective energy and was suddenly blasted back the resulting shockwave of energy sweeping over the field eager to introduce itself to Janemba and Doomsday Horror and exchange gifts, trade pleasant banter, and reduce them to their component atoms.

"Oh I know it VERY well boy, but did you know about THIS? Janemba, use Bunkai Teleportation!" Yami Marik commanded. Janemba sneered at me before his body suddenly began to break apart like a multicolored jigsaw puzzle the last of his body vanishing into thin air as the shockwave reached Doomsday Horror, who wasn't so lucky and was incinerated instantly. "If Janemba is about to be destroyed by a monster effect, trap or spell card. He can be removed from play for the duration of the turn and is brought back on my next standby phase. Of course normally any equip cards that were on a monster when its removed from play are destroyed, but not if I play my quick play Luggage from a Different Dimension!" He paused in his ranting just long enough to play a spell showing D.D Trainer carrying a suitcase with him as he escaped from a portal. "When a monster is removed from play any equip cards attached to it are also removed from play and are reequipped if that monster ever returns to the field. A bit situational but perfect when used in combination with Janemba." He explained taking both cards and tucking them into his coat.

I was about to tell him where he could stick both cards when all of a sudden the other cards he had been keeping in his cloak started to fly out and swarming into his graveyard like a flurry of bats. "Ah yes that would be the other effect of my Doomsday Horror, if it happens to be destroyed every Dark attribute monster that was removed from play is sent to my graveyard. Once more the corpses of my loyal servants are piled high and once they are awakened from their slumber you will be buried in the shadows of the past while I am given back control of my future!"

Another chapter down, plenty more to go LOL I might have gone a little overboard with how many original cards I used in this chapter but ah well, it IS my fanfic and I've always loved seeing other writers come up with original cards and strategies to use in their own stories to keep things fresh. Here's hoping you guys enjoy this latest chapter I had a LOT of fun showing off Janemba's powers. As always read and review when you have the time and I'll see you all in a bit, tata for now!

Original Cards

Janemba the D.D Devil

Level: 8

Attribute: Dark

Type: Fiend/Effect

Attack: 2800

Defense: 1400

Image: Janemba standing with his tail swaying to one side while his arms are crossed over his chest and grinning with malice.

Text: The true form of Janempa, the innocence of its previous form has been stripped bare leaving only an insatiable lust for battle and bloodshed. This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card can only be special summoned from your deck if 'Janempa, The Chaos Child' is destroyed and sent to the graveyard as a result of battle. When this card is special summoned both players can special summon as many monsters from their graveyards as possible. If 'Janemba the D.D Devil' is about to be destroyed by a card effect you can remove it from play and return it to your side of the field in either attack or defense position at the start of your next standby phase. If this effect is used this card cannot declare an attack the turn it is brought back.

Warp Blade

Spell Card

Type: Equip

Image: Janemba holding the sword of a defeated Warrior Dai Grepher as it starts to transform into his red sword from the blade down.

Text: This card can only be equipped to 'Janemba the D.D Devil' and raises its attack score by 600 when equipped. By removing from play one card in your graveyard you can take this card from your deck, hand or graveyard and equip it to 'Janemba the D.D Devil'. When the monster this card is equipped to attacks a monster in defense mode the difference between this monster's attack and the targeted monster's defense is taken out of your opponent's life points. On the third standby phase after this card was equipped it is destroyed and sent to the graveyard.

Scavenger's Bounty

Trap Card

Type: Normal

Image: A flock of Yata Garasu's feeding on the remains of a dead 3-Humped Lacooda laying in a barren valley.

Text: When one of your monsters is destroyed and sent to the graveyard as a result of battle you can remove that monster from play and increase your life points by 200 for each level the monster destroyed has.

Kozaky's Temporal Shifting Machine

Spell Card

Type: Quick Play

Image: Kozaky working at a control panel to a time portal looking up as another Kozaky pokes his head through the vortex and gives him a thumbs up startling Kozaky's Sexy Kitty.

Text: By sending one monster you control to your deck and shuffling a monster on your side of the field can attack again this turn.

Kozaky's Defense Grid

Trap Card

Type: Counter

Image: Kozaky hugging Kozaky's Sexy Kitty close as they hide behind an overturned desk while two large laser cannons and a squadron of Science Soldiers gun down a malfunctioning Cyber Dragon.

Text: When a card with the word 'Kozaky' in its name is attacked by an opponent's monster destroy the attacking monster and end your opponent's battle phase immediately.

Luggage from a Different Dimension

Spell Card

Type: Quick Play

Image: A D.D Trainer hauling an overstuffed suitcase behind him as he exits a swirling portal.

Text: When a monster on your side of the field is removed from play any equip cards attached to it are also removed from play. If the monster is brought back to the field the equip cards are reequipped to it once it is successfully special summoned.


	7. Chapter 7

Dream Duel

By Metal Overlord 2.0

Before I start my newest chapter I have some very exciting news, the other day I passed my driver's permit exam starting the long road to getting a car and driver's license of my very own. I'm glad everyone has been enjoying all my original card designs so far in this story I assure you I have some even more insanely powerful and tricky cards on the way. By the way I'd like to thank my anonymous but very much appreciated fan Nathan for pointing out a bit of a goof-up I did last chapter with Giant Kozaky's attack score after Kozaky's Sexy Kitty boosted it. As he said it might make the difference between victory and defeat later on so until I revise that part of the chapter we'll treat things as the way it should have been. Thanks again for the help and the praise guys, enjoy!

Yami Marik stared me down his field bare and his life points at a mere 1700. I on the other hand had most of mine intact with 5000 life points and my four monsters Kozaky, Kozaky's Sexy Kitty, Giant Kozaky and lastly Big Tusked Mammoth. All in all I was feeling pretty confident but after I had blown away Marik's Doomsday Horror all the cards he had been removing from play for the last few rounds were back in his graveyard, and so far that had NEVER lead to anything good. "So, are you actually going to finish your move or can I take a quick break and use the men's room?" I said folding my arms and tapping my foot.

My opponent just gave me a lopsided little grin clucking his tongue. "Such impatience, I knew you had a death wish the moment you accepted my challenge but I had no idea you were so eager to be cast down into hell. Alas I'm afraid you'll have to wait like a good little boy for me to kill you, but just to keep you from getting any ideas about actually WINNING this duel I'll play Nightmare Steel Cage, barring either of us from attacking for two turns!" He played a card and a large spiked metal cage burst out of the ground and surrounded us from all sides. Big Tusked Mammoth didn't seem too bothered by this but since KSK and Kozaky were on top of Giant Kozaky they had to keep their heads down to avoid the sharp spikes. "Hmm, you know I rather like this look for you, caged like lambs ready for the slaughter. Oh I'm sorry am I distracting you? My apologies in that case I'll end my turn with three face downs, go right ahead and make your move." Yami Marik taunted.

"Great, just when I can stop worrying about keeping track of Card of Demise I have another time-based spell to worry about sigh I hate multitasking." I grumbled as I drew. Suddenly there was a flash of light and my Previous Life equip card shattered into a burst of pixels KSK giving a startled yowl as the blue aura around her vanished. "What the-?!" I started before I heard Yami Marik cackling.

"Oh I'm sorry it seems your precious equip spell has suddenly left the field, I wonder if it had something to do with my facedown card? It's called Disarmament and when its set off all equip cards on the field are destroyed. But just to show there's no hard feelings how about I give you a little….peace offering? I activate the trap card Gift which increases your life points by three thousand. Consider it a buffering for the torment to come, believe me, you won't be enjoying the extra points for long." He said with a sneer as my life points skyrocketed up to my starting score of 8000.

I didn't believe for a second that there wasn't some ulterior motive to Yami Marik's odd move aside from displaying an exercise in extreme arrogance. However that didn't mean I couldn't make use of some of the unexpected help he had given me. "Well far be it from me to turn down such a generous donation. Not that it changes my intentions of wiping what's left of you out of existence but thanks, and not just for the life point boost. Now I have more room on my field to use to rebuild my lock a bit. I'll start with one of your old favorites, Excavation of Magic Stone. I simply toss two cards and I get any spell card I want from my graveyard." I discarded two cards, one being Woodborg Inpachi and another monster that I took care not to let Yami Marik see before I put it into my graveyard, at least not until I was ready to use it on him. "And since I chose my Rare Gold Armor, why wait when I can equip Kozaky with it?"

I played the spell card and as I did Kozaky's coat and tie changed in color gaining a dazzling golden hue. KSK's eyes grew large and shiny as she padded over on all fours admiring her reflection in the surface of Kozaky's coat and nuzzling him with her cheek clearly liking his new threads. "Since I used this equip earlier I'm hoping you remember its ability to make the equipped monster the only target your monsters can attack, and as always thanks to Kozaky's Sexy Kitty's ability to protect any monster with the word 'Kozaky' in its name it seems that once again I've found a way to keep your forces at bay. Next up I'll play Mystic Wok, in exchange for sending one monster on my side of the field to the graveyard I get to boost my life points by either its attack or defense score. So rather then continue to leave Big Tusked Mammoth vulnerable to an attack I'll let him retire from the battlefield with a little dignity." I explained playing the spell card. The mighty beast turned to look at me and nodded its shaggy head giving one last trumpet before turning into a shower of gold motes that bathed me in their glow my life points climbing to an unbelievable 10,000.

"FOOL! You did exactly what I was hoping you would. By boosting your life points you've fulfilled the conditions of one of my deadliest trap cards, go Life Equalizer!" He roared his facedown lifting up. Suddenly the energy around me changed from a soft golden hue to a sickening green energy. I cried out and felt my knees give out as it felt like the energy that had been flowing into me was suddenly being extracted from my very being. Through the one eye I managed to keep open I saw the same stream of energy squirm through the air like a blind snake and connect to Yami Marik. However it seemed to have a positive affect on him his arms held out to seemingly embrace the strange aura.

"Even the most seemingly useless card can be devastating if one is willing to work to unleash its potential. Life Equalizer is just such a card and can only be activated if the difference between our life points is over eight thousand. Then both our scores are adjusted until we both have a total score of three thousand, of course unlike you this effect is actually a boon for me as now I'm stronger then before." He explained both of us now only having 3000 life points each. "Did you really think you had a chance against me just because my life points were lower then yours? Only a fool would avoid having more then one way to replenish their life points, though with this combo I've taken it a step further and dealt you a crippling blow in one fell swoop. THIS is the kind of power you were stupid enough to oppose boy, I don't need the Winged Dragon of Ra or even my Millennium Rod to crush you beneath my heel!" He cackled with sick glee.

"One flaw in that assumption Marik," I growled as I shook off the effect of his trap card. Unlike when I was struck with Meteor of Destruction the sudden reversal of energy hadn't left any physical wounds so I was able to recover more quickly. "Without both those symbols of your power you're just another garden variety whack job who happens to go to the same hair stylist as the Pharaoh. You've always used someone else's power as a crutch for yourself while you acted like you were at the top of the infernal food chain. When you were done hiding behind Odion you showed off your God Card left and right even when you could have won without them using your Burn deck. As soon as Ra bit the dust in your final duel you were left with nothing but an eyeball and a life point, and mark my words when I'm done with you there won't even be THAT much left of you!" I said determined to make him pay for turning Big Tusked Mammoth's final act of loyalty into a cheap shot at me.

Yami Marik stared at me his face seemingly gone blank. Then he suddenly smiled calmly. "Interesting theory, and not without its points I'll admit, perhaps I was a bit too dependent on Ra, but at the time it was a potent weapon and the greatest in my arsenal at the time. But on the other hand," His smile suddenly turned almost demonic. "If I have to begin my reign of terror anew in your world without seeking the aid of the gods first, then there's no reason for me to not to kill every living thing within my reach now is there? What fun it will be to spill blood without restraint or discretion, I simply can't wait." He whispered his voice laced with bloodlust.

I couldn't help but break out into a shiver at this. How quickly I was forgetting that Yami Marik was a creature born not merely of darkness but of its purest incarnation devoid of light to give it balance. "I'll, I'll set my last card facedown and end my turn." I said watching as the cage around us started to rust and give a squeal of straining metal indicating it was started to weaken. A minute ago I had been viewing the spell as little more then an annoyance, yet now I was secretly grateful for the fading protection it offered me, on some level I imagine Yami must have felt the same primal desire to flee when he had been trapped under this same spell when he was faced with the fury of Slifer.

As Yami Marik drew there was a strange ripple in the air a flurry of multi-colored pieces of matter popped out of thin air. They started to latch together a familiar horned visage appearing first the mouth twisted in a smirk as the rest of Janemba rebuilt itself still wielding the Warp Blade that he had taken with him courtesy of Yami Marik's spell card Luggage from a Different Dimension. The demon cricked his neck first to the left then the right working the kinks out of his joints after being reassembled before giving a satisfied sneer. That sneer suddenly faltered replaced by a look of surprise as a large crack suddenly appeared in his sword. As I watched the blade seemed to shatter like brittle glass the handle rusting away in his hand his attack score returning to its base 2800. "That would be the side effect of Warp Blade, in return for being so powerful on the third standby phase that it's been equipped to Janemba it's destroyed. But before you get too excited let me remind you that all I need to do is remove one of the MANY monsters in my graveyard and I can retrieve the Warp Blade as quickly as it was lost." He took an Armored Zombie out of his graveyard and pocketed it before reaching for his graveyard again.

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to nip your plan in the ass by playing Disappear. Compared to a lot of the traps you've been using so far this one is very simple. I take one card in your graveyard and remove it from play, so now Warp Blade is gone and with it the edge Janemba has over Giant Kozaky." I said as the spell card vanished from his discard pile like it was little more then a mirage. While Yami Marik swore in Egyptian under his breath Janemba merely stood there holding the crumbled remains of his weapon before he started to chuckle. As he gripped what was left of his weapon and hurled it to the side the chuckle grew in pitch until it became a wild cackle that made me even more uneasy then before. Just how much control did my opponent have over the beasts in his deck anyway?

"Fine, you've bought yourself a little time but don't think you're safe. As a matter of fact it didn't even matter if Janemba still had the Warp Blade equipped or not because my plans this turn didn't involve attacking at all! This next card I'm about to summon is the spiritual successor of another deadly beast I used in Battle City, the terrifying Lava Golem that was instrumental in Wheeler's defeat. Behold the Grinder Golem! (3000,300)" There was a rumbling sound beneath my feet as suddenly an enormous three pronged iron claw punched its way out of the ground followed by an enormous buzz-saw that gave a shrill screech as it chewed through the skulls around us. The entire monstrosity finally unearthed itself and lumbered its way to my side of the field the buzz saw that was in place of its head sending a constant shower of scalding sparks as it scraped against the top of the cage.

"By special summoning Grinder Golem on your side of the field I forfeit my ability to summon a monster this turn, however I do get two Grinder Tokens (0,0) in attack mode," He explained. There was another shrill whine as two machines that vaguely resembled the original golem but far more spindly appeared their saw heads more of an annoying whine then the deafening screech of the original. "Before you suggest otherwise I'm well aware that, unlike little Wheeler you're likely not willing to attack with Grinder Golem, but that doesn't stop me from taking your life points down a notch with the spell card Misfortune, taking away half of the golem's attack score from your life points." He said watching as the Golem suddenly turned around and slugged me with its claw knocking me down to 1500. Kozaky and Kozaky's Sexy Kitty were immediately at my side helping me up as I rubbed my jaw where I had been hit. "Finally since I seem to have used up most of my hand I'll remedy that by playing the spell card known as Spoils of the Grave!" He said playing the last card in his hand.

The artwork on the spell was rather unsettling to say the least. It had an image of a thief reaching into a pried open coffin filled with gold only to scream as the skeleton buried with it grabs his wrist reddish light glowing in its empty sockets. "Now by selecting a monster in my graveyard I can draw a card for every two levels the monster had. I choose Janempa the Chaos Child who was a level eight thus I draw four cards," He explained as he quickly drew bringing his hand from zero to four cards. "However, as the artwork on the card implies the price for defiling the sanctity of the grave is great, in this case the attack score of the monster I selected is taken from my life points. Fortunately Janempa only had a thousand attack points despite being a level eight so I get the maximum benefit for the minimum cost." He gloated as he glowed with a reddish energy his life points lowering to 2000. "I'll end my turn on that note. But now what? Think about it, next turn whatever card you draw will be sent to the graveyard and then my Nightmare Steel Cage will crumble, leaving my monsters free to attack. What will you do then?" He asked.

I was silent as I drew only to discard what I had drawn just as quickly leaving my hand empty once more. I looked at what I had on my field, at Kozaky, Kozaky's Sexy Kitty, Giant Kozaky and now Grinder Golem my only other support being the Rare Gold Armor equipped to Kozaky. All Yami Marik needed was one good destruction spell to bring my entire lock crashing down, and with it the last of my life points. Yami Marik in contrast had five cards in his hand, a powerful monster and who knew what else his only sign of weakness in having slightly less life points then me. "What will I do?" I echoed his question my hair covering my eyes. Then to Yami Marik's astonishment I looked up and gave him a smirk. "Why, I'll keep going until the duel is over of course. Until then I'll make sure to put up as ugly a fight as I can." I said as my graveyard started to glow.

"Oh, and by the way? You're not the only one with a multiple ways to replenish your hand, see the card I just discarded was an interesting spell card called by the name of Kozaky's Backup Plan. When it's the only card in my hand and its sent to the graveyard I'm allowed to draw one card for every face up monster with the word 'Kozaky' in its name. However in return I have to skip a number of my battle phases equal to the number of cards I drew so I get three cards and skip my next three battle phases starting with this one." I said not needing to point out how since Nightmare Steel Cage was still in play I couldn't have attacked even if I hadn't played that card. "Now then, while your Grinder Golem is powerful I have a much better monster I can use, so I'll sacrifice your golem to summon THIS!" The enormous machine's buzz saw screeched to a halt the entire thing toppling over with a crash and falling apart at the seams.

What took its place was what had to have been one of the strangest creatures ever made. It looked like a six foot long human tongue the tip of which ended in a fanged upper jaw while the back of it narrowed into a spindly arm that coiled around itself and ended in a three pronged claw. A huge eyeball cracked open in the middle of the creature and it used its coiled arm like a spring hopping its way over to where the Grinder Golem used to be making a wet hissing noise sending sweat and slobber flying everywhere.

"What the hell is THAT?!" Yami Marik squawked in disbelief, not only over how I had used one of his own strategies against him, but also that I done so in order to summon such a bizarre monster.

"The hell it is Tongue Twister (400,300), a level 6 fiend that proves that the good people at Wizards of the Coast, that's my world's version of Industrial Illusions by the way, haven't run out of ways to freak people out just yet. It has a powerful effect too, but you won't find out about that until later, I'll set a card face down and call it a turn which means you're Nightmare Steel Cage has finally expired." I said. Sure enough as I watched the cage gave a squeal of tortured metal before the entire structure suddenly collapsed around us. Aside from Kozaky's Backup Plan I only had one more drawing tool, if whether or not I could use it depended on whether Yami Marik took the bait.

The expression on Yami Marik's face as he snatched the top card off his deck told me everything I needed to know about his next move. "I'm afraid your final gambit has failed boy! I happen to have noticed that the word 'Kozaky' is clearly not in the name of your little freak show meaning this duel is OVER! Janemba destroy Tongue Twister and with it the last of that worm's life points!!" He roared. Janemba snarled before his entire jaw seemed to unhinge like a snake a huge green energy blast launching from his gullet and aiming at my Twister, whose eye was now three times its regular size hopping up and down and slobbering in a panic.

"Oh dear, I'm about to lose all my life points and my physical form? Whatever shall I do?" I said holding my hands together and feigning distress before blinking dramatically. "Oh wait, how about I activate Chaos Burst, this powerful trap first requires that I sacrifice one of my monsters, sorry Tongue Twister but I'm going to have to choose you to make this combo work," I said as a fissure opened beneath Tongue Twister. As the pink fleshy fiend peered down into the darkness a huge claw rose up and grabbed it in a vice like grip dragging it back down below with a squeal just in time to avoid Janemba's energy blast.

"By the way when Tongue Twister is sacrificed for a card effect I can remove him from play and draw two new cards," The unseen inhabitant of the chasm gave a monstrous belch the foul gas wafting out of the fissure making the top two cards on my deck flutter free, luckily I was able to grab them before they joined Tongue Twister in falling down the chasm giving me three cards in my hand again. "And now we get to the best part of the trap," I said with a grin. Janemba looked around nervously as the ground beneath us started to shake far more violently then before a gargantuan demon burst from the ground flames billowing around its wings as it roared. "Usually Kozaky doesn't need help from demons like this one to keep his research moving forward, but sometimes it never hurts to have an ace or two in the hole. Now that the demon I've summoned using Chaos Burst has been appeased it will fulfill its part of the agreement and destroy Janemba and with him one thousand of your life points!" I said as Kozaky and KSK took cover behind Giant Kozaky. The Chaos Burst Demon held out its hands an enormous fireball building up in each hand as it prepared to reduce Janemba to ashes. The crimson demon however snarled in defiance giving a roar as he powered up as well.

"Is that so? Hmm, not a bad strategy, I should have realized that ridiculous mutant of yours was useful somehow, of course you do realize I can simply remove Janemba from play to negate the damage your trap would cause…" He started to say making Janemba give a triumphant sneer as he prepared to meet the demon's attack confident that he wouldn't be harmed. "…However I must confess that I'm starting to get bored of waiting for him to return to my field only to be kept constantly at bay by your little lockdown, so I think I'll choose NOT to remove Janemba from play and enjoy the show." Yami Marik said a merciless smile on his face. For the first time since he had been summoned a look of fear appeared in Janemba's eyes. He looked back in horror at his master in a silent plea to change his mind but Yami Marik merely smirked holding up a hand and jerking his thumb down. Janemba gave a scream of desperation and charged the Chaos Burst demon a fist raised to attack. Unfortunately it was too little too late as the demon slammed its palms together and unleashed a deluge of flames that ate away at the D.D Devil's body until there was nothing left. Its work complete the hulking demon folded its arms and wings around itself and sank back into the barren ground beneath us Yami Marik's life points dipping down to 1000.

I stared in shock at what had just happened. In all honestly I had only played Chaos Burst to activate Tongue Twister's effect and keep Janemba out of play for a few more turns, I hadn't expected Yami Marik to LET his monster be destroyed. "You know I probably already know the answer to this but HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?! You just lost your best monster and half your remaining life points, and for what? Your pride?" I demanded.

Yami Marik shook his head. "You poor stupid child, I won't deny that Janemba was powerful, not to mention useful, but he had served his purpose and now that he has been destroyed I can pull us even deeper into the darkness, I chain Janemba's destruction with the four quick play spells in my hand, starting with Token Thanksgiving, which destroys every token monster on the field and replenishes my life points by 800 for each one," He said his Grinder Tokens fading into a dark-cerulean mist that enveloped the madman like a shroud. He leaned back his head and inhaled deeply, and as he breathed in the fumes his eyes bugged open shrieking in wild laughter as his life points jumped to 2600. "And now, NOW I will show you just how vast the gap between our skills truly are, I activate from my hand three copies of one of the most infamous spells in the game: A DEAL WITH DARK RULER!!" An inferno of black fire burst forth and covered the field the fires from the enormous spires around us blending together making the entire sky seem to be on fire. As Kozaky hugged KSK close he hit a button on his belt and Giant Kozaky's eye lit up a force field powering up just in time to keep the inferno at bay.

And in the center of it all was Yami Marik, his arms a blur as he moved his spindly hands like a maestro orchestrating the hellish fury around us into a symphony worthy of hell itself his eyes burning with a fire as terrible as the inferno he had brought forth. "Come forth my three glorious engines of destruction, come forth and herald the new age of darkness, arise Berserk Dragons!!" He shrieked at the top of his lungs. The fiendish blaze seemed to move with a will of its own now, gathering together into three towering pillars of fire that stretched to the heavens. One after another the pillars were suddenly parted by a pair of huge tattered wings kicking up scalding embers and revealing a trio of enormous black dragons each one little more then bone and hide a mane of bone white hair trailing down each spindly neck their empty sockets burning with a lust for carnage that had lasted beyond the grave. The three Berserk Dragons (3500,0) towered over Yami Marik's side of the field raising their heads as one and bursting into a chorus of unearthly shrieks so intense that to my shock and fear the entire dimension seemed to be coming apart at the seams. The sky overhead cracked and shattered like glass and the ground beneath us started to break apart. "Come little duelist," Yami Marik whispered as all of reality seemed to start to collapse. "Follow me into the heart of darkness; there our battle will begin in earnest."

I certainly hope my latest cliffhanger was dramatic enough to make up for what's had to have been another long wait for all my loyal readers. As Nathan was so kind to do if I made any technical goofs this chapter, like for instance having a certain psychotic blond duelist play more then one copy of A Deal with Dark Ruler at the same time, or even HAVING more then one copy in his deck. (I don't think its limited but I'm a little out of the loop when it comes to what's forbidden, what's limited and what's not so bear with me) please feel free to point them out. This is my first ever bit of Yu-Gi-Oh fan fiction, heck, its my second story writing fan fiction for that matter so I am well aware I might have a few rough spots to polish here and there. If you guys think things can't get any more intense now I assure you the next few chapters will be the culmination of all my hard work in this story so lets see some feedback because I'm as eager to write more as you are to read more, later guys!

Original Cards

Spoils of the Grave

Spell Card

Type: Normal

Image: A thief prying open a coffin stuffed with gold on a moonlit night. He's screaming in fear as a skeleton buried with the gold grabs his hand red light streaming from its sockets.

Effect: Select one monster in your graveyard. For every two stars that monster's level has you are allowed to draw one card from your deck. If this effect is used subtract from your life points equal to the selected monsters original attack score.

Kozaky's Backup Plan

Spell Card

Type: Normal

Image: Kozaky hastily rifling through some files in the bottom drawer of a file cabinet while Kozaky's Sexy Kitty tries to keep a large metal door shut several purple tentacles starting to bend down the door over her head making her eyes widen comically.

Effect: If this card is the only card in your hand and is discarded from your hand to the graveyard by a card effect you can draw one card for every face up monster with the word 'Kozaky' in its name. For every card drawn by this effect you must then skip an equal number of battle phases.


	8. Chapter 8

Dream Duel

By Metal Overlord 2.0

Well as always I'd like to thank everyone who has continued to read and enjoy my work. Its both a challenge and a joy to see what ways I can continue to surpass my accomplishments in each chapter I add to this story and with it the growing confidence that I can write a Yu-Gi-Oh fic with the best of my fellow writers. Considering that this is only my second story on this site so far progress has come in leaps and bounds and will hopefully continue to do so thanks to your support. Heh, sorry if I sound a bit sappy I just couldn't for the life of me think of any other way to introduce this new chapter so I figured I might as well give another well deserved bit of gratitude to my audience out there. So without further adieu let's get this show on the road, enjoy!

When I came to I felt like someone had strung me up by my ankles and used me as a Pinata. "Ughh, stupid Yami Marik, he could have just used Janemba's effect to avoid my Chaos Burst trap and let the duel continue like a normal person but NOOO, that twitchy eyed little twerp had to show off by trashing his own monster so he could summon three copies of the strongest zombie monster in the game and rip a hole in the fabric of space and time." I grumbled sitting up and checking my duel disk. To my relief it was still functioning properly my life points still reading at 1500 and my monsters were still on the field. However Kozak's Sexy Kitty, and Kozaky who was currently squashed against her bosom like a stuffed animal, were too busy staring past me with matching expressions of terror to notice me at first while the expression welded to Giant Kozaky remained unchanged.

Seeing this I gave a groan every horror movie and science fiction show I had ever seen flashing before my eyes reminding me what tends to happen when a character turns around in these situations. "Okay okay, I get the picture there's something indescribably horrible behind me, but do I HAVE to see it and risk soiling myself or can I just pretend nothing's there and try and find Yami Marik?" I asked them. Kozkay and KSK looked at each other and gave me a sympathetic look but shook their heads. Giving a dejected sigh I braced myself as best I could, turned around to face the other direction…and promptly screamed like a little girl. We were standing on a barren plateau of stone that was part of a cluster of thousands of pieces of rubble and debris, including pieces of our last arena flurries of bones and battered bronze spires still weakly sputtering tongues of fire that drifted alongside what must have been the broken remains of entire planets. Everything was being slowly dragged down spiraling into a black hole big enough to swallow our entire planet and still have room enough to nibble on the moon. This alone would have been enough to scare me senseless but to make matters even more terrifying there was something _moving _in that cosmic abyss.

Reaching out from the black hole to feast on the shattered pieces of entire worlds were creatures too vast and terrible to put into accurate words. They were crammed together and fought savagely amongst themselves for each morsel of matter shrieking and hissing and gurgling and howling in a monstrous never ending feeding frenzy. And judging by how the rock we were standing on was getting closer and closer to the abyss it was only a matter of time before we were dragged down as well. Confronted with this terrifying, awe inspiring spectacle I responded as best I could to put my feelings into words, this was what I managed to articulate. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF H.P LOVECRAFT IS THAT?!" I squawked backpedaling quickly and joined my monsters in holding each other for dear life.

"Good analogy actually," Said a familiar voice behind us. Turning around I saw Yami Marik standing in the shadow of his three Berserk Dragons their crimson eyes blazing like embers. "I told you, this is the heart of darkness, the very core of the Shadow Realm where I was forced to fight for my very survival until I found you. You see whenever a dimension is destroyed or a world is laid to waste for one reason or another, what's left is brought here, where ancient entities older then the gods themselves fight to feed on the last scraps of life force they can manage to glean from the ruins. As the centuries go by some will become strong enough to break free of their prison and escape the Shadow Realm to become all manner of demons and devils, some of which are even reborn as some of the more terrifying duel spirits like Zorc Necrophades, Reshef the Dark Being, The Great Leviathan, even the Sacred Beasts and the Egyptian Gods began their existence here. And once this duel is decided the vanquished will be reduced to fuel for their rebirth!" Yami Marik said throwing back his head and howling in laughter that echoed throughout the abyss below. The shrieking forms below us struggled to pull themselves out of the black hole reaching out with huge limbs and tendrils towards us as the rock we stood on continued its inexorable descent.

If I said I hadn't been more scared then I had ever been in my entire life I would have been lying through my teeth. It took every ounce of will to wrench my gaze away from the horrible sight below us and gave Yami Marik a defiant snarl. "Yeah well guess what? I'm not to keen on winding up on the menu for some cosmic freak, so forgive me if I do everything within my power to bring you down once and for all, so make your damn move!" I snapped brandishing my duel disk and getting ready for whatever my opponent might still have up his sleeve.

"Big words little boy, now lets see you back them up. Now let's see, I have three Berserk Dragons on my side of the field, each one at their full strength of thirty five hundred attack points each, my life points are at twenty six hundred, yes I'd say I'm satisfied with my situation at the moment so I'll end my turn. Now make your move and bring me one step closer to victory!" He commanded his eyes burning with a confidence born of both arrogance and madness.

I glared over the brim of my glasses as I drew bringing my hand up to a modest size of four cards. "You might have a few new monsters to play with but as long as my Kozaky lockdown combo is still in play your dragons are deadweight. Plus I've used Berserk Dragon enough times myself to know each one will lose five hundred attack points for every turn their out." I said looking over my hand. All I had to do was last two more turns and not only would Yami Marik's dragons be weak enough for Giant Kozaky to destroy, but also the effect of Kozaky's Backup Plan would wear off and I could use my battle phase again. For now my best bet was to wait it out and see who blinked first. "Unlike you I can resist using every card I have just to show off. My turn will consist of setting two cards facedown and ending my turn." I said a pair of brown backed cards appearing behind Kozaky.

As Yami Marik drew the Berserk Dragons screeched in pain as their skin slowly began to dissolve globs of black sludge sliding off their bones as their attack scores fell to 3000 each. "Is that all? Normally I'd chastise you on how unimpressive a fight you're putting up so far now that this duel is approaching the finale, but it seems I'm equally restricted in my options so I'm afraid I have to end my move." He said as he gazed at what he had drawn a brief flicker of anticipation flitting across his face that didn't bode well for me at all. Despite losing a good amount of their flesh the Berserk Dragons seemed to still be very much willing to fight giving snarls of frustration that they could not attack.

I drew again glancing nervously behind me noticing that we were a few inches closer to the black hole then we had been a minute earlier and encouraged myself to pick up the pace. "Almost time to bring your dragons down blondie, I'll set a monster facedown and end my turn." I said as a brown backed card appeared on my field as well.

Yami Marik drew and watched as his dragons weakened even further to 2500 attack points their screams of pain turning to gurgling hisses as they struggled to stand up even as their legs rotted away beneath them. "Hmm, it seems my dragons are coming apart at the seams, unfortunately for you they've kept you at bay just long enough for me to draw one of my most potent weapons. I sacrifice one of my Berserk Dragons to summon Darknight Parshath (1900,1400)" In a crash of black lightning a pale blue skinned centaur clad in dark purple armor appeared rearing up on his hind legs and giving a war cry a pair of black feathered wings sweeping out grandly behind him.

"Before my Darknight carves your facedown monster to bits Sangan's effect allows me to fetch any monster from my deck with less then a thousand attack points, but considering how my monster gains one hundred attack points for every Dark attribute monster in my graveyard that's the LEAST of your problems!" He crowed. The centaur's red eyes blazed with light as phantoms rose from Yami Marik's graveyard before being absorbed by the sword attached to his left arm his attack points skyrocketing to 4000 attack points. "Destroy his face down card my servant!" He commanded. With a roar the centaur galloped towards my set monster raising a sword and piercing it with his sword. My Royal Magical Library appeared before it exploded in a flurry of broken wood and burnt pages. "Whenever my Darknight destroys a monster in battle I can remove one Dark attribute monster from my graveyard to draw a card, I'll set a card and end my turn." Yami Marik explained even as Darknight Parshath's attack lowered slightly to 3900, which was still a just a little higher then I would have liked.

I swore under my breath as I drew, now with that powered up fairy on Yami Marik's side of the field I no longer had a clear path to his life points, the best thing I could do was take down his three Berserk Dragons and try and hold him off until I drew a card to destroy his latest powerhouse. "Giant Kozaky, attack the Berserk Dragon on the left!" I ordered, Kozaky powered up the mighty machine and sent it barreling down on the undead dragon its mechanical limbs poised to attack.

"And just like that your entire strategy is about to come crashing down, I reveal my face down card, the dreaded Deck Devastation Virus! By sacrificing a Dark Attribute monster with two thousand or more attack points every single monster on your field, hand, and is drawn from your deck for the next three turns are destroyed. Which means Giant Kozaky is about to explode and it's going to take twenty five hundred of your life points with it, DIE!!" He screamed his face contorted in savage triumph. The trap card glowed with a sickly hue tendrils of strange gasses reaching out and enveloping the dragon Giant Kozaky had been about to attack. The creature shrieked in a fresh peal of agony as its body seemed to swell and inflate like a ghoulish balloon blood streaming from its empty sockets and jaws until with a frenzied gurgle it exploded in a rain of gore.

As I watched in horror a cloud of poisonous gas emerged from the dragon's still twitching remains surging forth like a deadly tidal wave. Kozaky's Sexy Kitty screamed in fright and clung to Kozaky tightly while he stroked her head and prepared for the worst. "GO INTERDIMENSIONAL MATTER TRANSPORTER!! I'll use its effect to remove Kozaky's Sexy Kitty from play so she'll be spared your virus's effect!!" I roared slamming the button down on my duel disk so hard I nearly broke my finger. A futuristic teleportation capsule emerged from Giant Kozaky. Before she had even realized what was happening Kozaky pushed KSK into the capsule and shut the door. KSK beat at the glass crying out for Kozaky while the little mad scientist gave her a brave smile and waved goodbye as the capsule vanished in a flash of light. A few mere seconds later the virus cloud hit consuming Kozaky in its poisonous toxins. Giant Kozaky, no longer able to function without its master, began to shake and sputter sparks running along its form before it finally exploded shaking the plateau beneath us and hiding me from sight amidst a cloud of thick smoke and falling debris.

Yami Marik threw back his head and shrieked in laughter while his last Berserk Dragon and the Darknight Parshath roared in victory. "That IMBECILE! As if it mattered whether or not that useless little wench was spared my virus!! Finally I have a new vessel to call my own, and with it I shall carve my legacy anew in the world he thought himself capable of defending." He crowed spinning around on the rocky plateau. "Never again will I be reduced to a feeble memory pushed to the back of my enemy's minds. I shall use the flesh of all who stand before me as the canvas upon which my legacy shall be immortalized in blood!! I am invincible! I am immortal!! I AM-"

"-Delusional, arrogant, and an overall nuisance to society, to say nothing of all your OTHER flaws? I couldn't agree more." I said calmly dusting myself off my life points completely intact. Seemingly oblivious to the fact that every last trace of color had left my opponent's face his fists clenched hard enough to draw blood I blinked trying to see through my glasses, which had gotten some soot on the lenses, and took them off huffing on them and wiping them off on the sleeve of my shirt before putting them back on. "Sorry, I'm near sighted so without these things I'm blind as a bat. Anyway, you were saying something about 'immortalizing your legacy in blood on a canvas of flesh'?" I said as though nothing had happened.

Every vein on Yami Marik's face looked like it was in danger of rupturing his expression twisted into a hideous visage of unrestrained hatred and anger a single word tearing itself from his throat with the force of a physical blow. "_HOW?!" _He rasped his eyes bulging out of their sockets his pupils so shrunken they almost seemed to vanish.

Finally I allowed myself the smug smirk that had been threatening to crack my frigid demeanor as I jerked a thumb towards my remaining face down card, which lifted up to reveal a spell card depicting an explosion of energy ripping up through the control panel of Giant Kozaky with Kozaky's outline barely visible in the blast but seeming to be changing shape. "Oh nothing overly fancy, just a quick play spell card I used called Giant Kozaky Core Breach. When a Giant Kozaky is destroyed and sent to the graveyard because of its own effect the damage I would normally take is reduced to zero and I'm allowed to special summon a new monster from my hand, deck, or in this case graveyard." I explained as a card in my discard pile shone and spat out into my hand before I placed it onto my tray.

A bright purplish glow started to shine up through the ruins of Giant Kozaky as something apparently very large began to push its way out of the wreckage. Suddenly an enormous arm, dark purple in color and bloated with strange muscles and laced with thick green veins the size of tree roots, broke free of the wreckage ending in a huge serrated pincer like a monstrous lobster claw. With a roar an enormous creature heaved its way out of the rubble vaguely resembling Kozaky but drastically altered by the escaping energy that had washed over him from Giant Kozaky's destruction. His legs were double jointed and ended in the clawed three legged feet of a bird of prey and his back spines now resembled the dorsal plates of a Stegosaurus a thick tail swaying behind him. The only thing that seemed unchanged was his left arm, which dangled limply from the disproportionately broad shoulder it was attached too. Finally Kozaky's mouth was packed with teeth bigger then my arm his tiny glasses dangling from his nose. The beast that had once been Kozaky towered over my opponent's monsters before opening up its mouth and giving a roar that shook the rock beneath our feet. "Meet the most powerful monster in my entire deck, Giant Kozaky! (2900, 2800)" I said my chest puffed out in pride.

Yami Marik wheezed through his teeth a few times in an attempt to reign in his temper before he turned his head to one side and spat in defiance. "Do you honestly think I care?! All you've done is wasted more of my time, even if you destroy my Berserk Dragon my Darknight Parshath will destroy that eyesore and the rest of your life points…eh?" He stared in alarm as the attack score of Mutant Kozaky started to increase a glowing purple energy emanating from its body.

"Looks like you've noticed one of Mutant Kozaky's special abilities, for every card in my graveyard with the word 'Kozaky' in its name it gains 400 attack points. Now lets see…by my count there's about six such cards in my graveyard so unless I'm mistaken that brings my monster's attack total to a grand total of, well you can probably figure it out for yourself." I said as Mutant Kozaky roared its attack power climbing to 5300. "Which means your Berserk Dragon, and most of your life points, are about to go bye-bye, ATTACK!" I shouted. Mutant Kozaky snarled in compliance and charged across the field in a strange loping run using its legs and arm to propel itself towards the undead dragon. Berserk Dragon tried to hit my monster with a fireball but before it could summon the strength to attack MK's pincer clamed around its neck in a strangle hold. With incredible strength Mutant Kozaky lifted the dragon over its head and started to slam its skull into the rock over and over until finally a sickening crunch filled the air as its skull was smashed in like an eggshell its body going limp before bursting into pixels. Yami Marik reeled from the force of the attack landing on his back with a cry of pain as his life points plummeted to a scant 800 not even managing to notice Darknight Parshath's attack score rising to 4200 with Berserk Dragon's demise. "I'm done playing around with you blondie, one way or another this duel's going to end."

I can't help but feel especially proud of my latest chapter, I put a surprising amount of work for the setting where Yami Marik and I would have the finale to this incredibly long and drawn out duel and I REALLY had fun showing off my ultimate Kozaky card, Mutant Kozaky. I got the idea for him from my constant frustration over how everyone seems to ignore Giant Kozaky just because of its heavy cost when its destroyed so I came up with the idea of turning that weakness into a strength. Plus I couldn't resist having a card that symbolized one of my favorite parts of most mad scientist movies where the mad genius pays the ultimate price in the pursuit of forbidden knowledge by becoming a twisted monstrosity by his own hand. As hard as it might be to believe folks next chapter is the finale to 'Dream Duel'. I won't dare reveal what will likely be my crowning achievement in this story but I will say that Yami Marik has one last trick up his sleeve before he's ready to give up and when he unleashes his final most powerful weapon it will set the stage for one final desperate battle for survival. Here's hoping you've enjoyed this story as much as I have please don't hesitate to send me feedback and I'll be sure to update soon enough, later!

Original Cards

Giant Kozaky Core Breach

Spell Card

Type: Quick play

Image: A shockwave of purple energy bursting out of the control panel to Giant Kozaky. In the blast is Kozaky's faint outline changing shape.

Text: This card can only be played when a face up 'Giant Kozaky' is destroyed and sent to the graveyard by its own effect. Negate the effect damage taken by the effect of 'Giant Kozaky' and special summon one 'Mutant Kozaky' from your hand, deck, or graveyard.

Mutant Kozaky

Level 8

Dark Attribute

Fiend/effect

Attack: 2900

Defense: 2800

Image: Mutant Kozaky roaring at some unseen foe as it emerged from a cloud of smoke the wreckage of Giant Kozaky strewn at its feet purple energy glowing around its body.

Text: Though hideously transformed by the energy unleashed by the destruction of Giant Kozaky, Kozaky struggles to protect others from his uncontrollable new power. This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card can only be special summoned by the effect of 'Giant Kozaky Core Breach'. The attack of this card is increased by 400 points for every card in the controller of this card's graveyard with the word 'Kozaky' in its title.


	9. Chapter 9

Dream Duel

By Metal Overlord 2.0

And here we are at last, the sense shattering conclusion to my first ever Yu-Gi-Oh fan fiction story. Sorry this took longer then most of my other chapters to post but wanted to make sure everything was perfect, especially concerning the depiction of another icon of pop culture that I think you guys will find VERY entertaining. This chapter is a lot longer then the others due to the amount of work I poured into the details of the last few turns of the duel. In fact before I finish my rambling I'd like to thank my good friend and terrific fellow writer Ardee, at one point I wasnt sure if the way I was going with the finale to this fic was a way that would entertain you guys so I sent him an incomplete rough draft that he was very prompt at giving me feedback to which I owe him a great deal of thanks. It's been one hell of a ride and I cannot stress enough how much all your support has meant to me throughout this project. I'd like to thank each an every person who has helped make this fic what it is through praise, support and feedback PROFUSELY, I couldn't have done it without so many considerate and compassionate fans and to help reward your support and praise I'm going to pull out all the stops to make sure this is one conclusion that will end this story with a BANG! I'm a little overanxious to get this thing started so without further adieu I give you the final chapter of 'Dream Duel', LETS DO THIS!!

I stood with my back to the vast cosmic abyss as I stared down Yami Marik, a feat made much easier by the fact that he was still picking himself up off the ground after I had destroyed his final Berserk Dragon. All he had left on the field was Darknight Parshath, and even though its attack score was at 4200 it paled in comparison to my ultimate monster, Mutant Kozaky, who towered over me it's attack strength at 5300. "We've been toying around with each other for long enough blondie, you can brag until the sun burns out on how you've been holding back but the fact is neither of us has much left to run on. Our decks are practically gone and our life points are both in the red, one way or another its coming to a close so from here on out I'm not holding anything back, I set a card and end my turn." I said watching as the Interdimensional Matter Transporter returned to the field. Kozaky's Sexy Kitty immediately kicked the door open and ran out looking around desperately for Kozaky. When she finally turned around and saw Mutant Kozaky her hands flew up to her mouth muffling her cry of shock.

As I watched the creature Kozaky had become gave a somber growl and turned its head as if unable to bring itself to see what KSK thought of what the scientist had become. Slowly she took a few cautious steps towards Mutant Kozaky her fear becoming replaced by a look of deep sorrow, not for herself, but for the price her mentor and loved one had paid to save her. She put her hands on part of the creature's pincer and gave a tentative meow. Mutant Kozaky looked back towards her and hung its head its cold reptilian eyes brimming with unshed tears of shame. Kozaky's Sexy Kitty gave a soft mewl and licked the creature's pincer nuzzling it with her cheek showing her feelings for him had not changed. A look of love and gratitude glimmered in Mutant Kozaky's eyes reaching out and stroking her behind the ears with the very tip of its pincer before picking her up and setting her onto its shoulder her presence boosting its attack to 5800 and its defense to 3300. I was so overwhelmed by this tender moment that I had to juggle the cards left in my hand to pull my handkerchief out and giving a great honk that sounded like a fog horn.

Meanwhile Yami Marik had slowly staggered to his feet swaying dangerously as if he was about to fall over. It seemed the force of his Berserk Dragon's destruction had been too much for him to withstand and had struck a severe blow to his stamina. He was wheezing through his teeth clenching them tight enough to risk cracking them. All the while he was staring at me with an expression as cold and empty as the abyss he had dragged us into. "_I...cannot…lose…" _He rasped as he struggled to lift his arms into position to draw his next card his every movement forced and disjointed. Slowly, like a flickering candle giving way to a forest fire a spark of anger appeared in the cold depths of my opponent's eyes growing in strength until he was shaking with rage. "_I…will never… BE A MEMORY!!" _Yami Marik screamed. As if summoned by his frenzied oath every vein in his body seemed to triple in size covering him in a grotesque tangle of throbbing veins and nerves pushing up through his skin as he gripped the top card from his deck in a strangle hold. With a primal shriek of hatred, madness and defiance black flames surged over his body culminating in his convulsing hand as he drew with such strength the ground beneath him cracked.

Panting from the toll his outburst had taken on his already failing strength Yami Marik glanced at the card he had drawn and froze, his pupils shrinking before a low laugh started to bubble out of him. Before long he was shrieking in manic triumph his back arched as he howled in harmony with the sickening crackling of his veins. When he finally spoke again his voice was so hoarse I could barely hear him. "_This…is the end boy._ _What I'm about to play…is beyond anything you could hope to match. I didn't want to resort to using it honestly; I wanted to prove that I didn't need such power…to crush worms like you. But…but to finally claim what is mine…to snuff out your miserable life…I will sacrifice everything…if only to see you suffer…" _He whispered holding the cards in his hand almost reverently.

A chill ran up my spine as I heard this. "Hold it! I thought you said you wouldn't use the God Cards for this duel! What are you babbling about?!" I demanded feeling a chill crawl up my spine. Something was wrong, something was very, VERY wrong. Ever since Yami Marik had drawn that card…I don't know if I could even describe what I was sensing into words, it felt like something was coming, something outside of everything I understood about the world, about the cosmos, about the very laws of time and space. Then I noticed something that made that chill spread to every other part of my body. Strange wisps of colors, colors that no sane mind could ever dream of, were oozing out of one of the cards Yami Marik was holding, these strange unearthly vapors were coiling and writhing like they were alive, and seeking prey. What had he drawn that was giving such an unearthly aura?

"You poor, simple child, this is something that dwelt in the cold void of space before the gods even existed. Its kind came from the sky ages before the barren earth had even begun to sire the first forms of life," Yami Marik purred his voice slowly becoming less hoarse as the aura from the card he held seeming to restore his strength. "From the darkest depths of the stars above they crawled, and as the young race of man emerged they molded them with dreams of such beauty and terror, even as they slumbered deep within the earth and sea. In every corner of the world there are those among us who gather in secret to perform long forgotten rites to pay homage to these ancient forces. For as much as you mortals revere them even the gods die out boy, but these beings can never die, for they do not truly live, and when the stars are ready they will walk the earth again, free to teach the race of man to shout and kill and revel in joy, and together we will dance and sing as all of creation burns_." _He proclaimed gently, almost lovingly setting a card onto his tray. The aura grew more intense around him and by the time he had started to speak again he stood tall rejuvenated by the power of whatever he had just unleashed. "Through this card…through this card let the ancient rites that will summon the great city of stone begin, and from its eldritch depths the one who shall bring forth your end shall stir, I play the ritual magic card Gateway to R'yleh!"

The strange aura around him suddenly flared, the tendrils of those alien unearthly bands of color slithered forth from the card like the blind tendrils of a squid, gathering pieces of the rocks around us and lashing them together. Slowly but surely, as if sculpted by the invisible hands of a giant, an entire city was constructed before my eyes forged from the dead worlds around us. It was a sprawling vista of strange stone structures laden with alien hieroglyphs, every inch of which was covered with dripping slime making the ancient buildings seem like they were made of rotting flesh instead of crumbling stone. And right behind Yami Marik was a doorway of incredible size leading down into the depths of that strange and terrible city.

"At last the fabled city of the R'yleh has risen, and with it the tombs of the ancient travelers from the sky, soon their guardian will awaken and then you will finally know true fear," Yami Marik said a grotesque fanged smile splitting across his face from ear to ear. What he said scared me far more then the slimy city of stone his ritual card had constructed out of the rubble around us, for although it sounded like complete gibberish I had a frightfully clear understanding of what it meant. _"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'yleh wgah'nagl fhtagn."_ He whispered every unearthly syllable rolling off his tongue like he was savoring it.

Almost without conscious thought I translated those bizarre words not noticing that my hands were slowly beginning to tremble. "'In his house at R'yleh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming'." I whispered, only then did I realize just what kind of danger I was in. How many times had I heard those words as I had spent many a night hunched over the stories of the horror writer H.P Lovecraft, whose most infamous creation Yami Marik seemed to have forged into a card just as he had for Janemba. Only frankly I would rather have been facing Janemba and all three Berserk Dragons then what I suspected was about to come forth from the depths of that stone doorway.

"Very good, I see you understand the powers you're dealing with. It will make things so much sweeter with you being able to appreciate my ultimate monster. Gateway to R'yleh requires me to sacrifice twelve levels worth of monsters from my hand and field, but thanks to this little creature known as Ritual Raven (300,300), I can use it as the entire tribute if the monster I'm ritual summoning is a Dark Attribute monster, and oh what a thing of darkness it is…" He said with maddening calm sliding another card from his hand into the graveyard. Above us stars began to appear shining like fireflies in the vast depths of space, only they were forming patterns and shapes unlike anything I had ever seen, and in a way only made the tableau before me that much more terrifying. "At last the stars are right and it is time has come for the Great Old Ones to rise again, come forth _CTHULHU, SPAWN OF THE STARS!!"_

I expected all hell to break loose the moment he screamed the name of his ultimate weapon, but instead there was only a deafening silence. Then, the enormous doorway suddenly began to open rumbling with such intensity that it rattled every tooth in my head and shook the ground beneath us. A smell, like a thousand rotting corpses dragged up from the bottom of the sea, wafted out of that seemingly impenetrable gloom and as I strained to listen I could hear a sickening slurping and sloshing from deep within. Slowly, as if forcing its limbs to move after countless eons, a monstrous _thing_ crawled forth from the darkness that made me scream (again) like a little girl, caused KSK to faint, and made even Mutant Kozaky slink back in fear.

It was almost impossible to put into words what had emerged from that door, but even if it threatened my sanity I had no choice but to try and observe what had been freed from a detached state of mind, if only to try and rationalize something that was beyond reason. It was a grotesque, bloated monstrosity that was humanoid only in the most obscure ways the rest of it resembling nothing that had ever existed on this earth. A pair of leathery narrow wings unfurled from its back sweeping out as if to brush against the sky its scaly hide draped in a fetid veil of the same foul slime that clung to the stone city that had birthed this horror from beyond. Each digit of both its flabby paws and feet were webbed together by a glistening membrane like a frog only they ended in huge grasping claws that scraped along the ground raising a din like nails on a chalkboard but worse. Its head was dominated by a gorgon's nest of squirming, wriggling tentacles that writhed about like blind swollen worms, but it was the eyes that were perhaps the worst part. Each eye was as large as my head and colored a dull luminous amber with horizontal irises like an octopus, and in that dark fathomless gaze I saw a malevolent intelligence that shone forth regarding me with the same terrible void of compassion or even mercy that one would regard an insect. Cthulhu, the fabled priest of the Great Old Ones and the keeper of the stone houses of R'yleh, was free and ravening for delight (??, ??)

"Ha-HAA!! At last! The power of the Great Old Ones is mine to command! You were doomed the moment I summoned mighty Cthulhu boy, its power cannot be surpassed! You see, Cthulhu's mere presence strikes pure unrelenting terror into the hearts of every monster face up on the field, reducing their attack and defense scores to zero!" Yami Marik cackled gripped in a delirious joy. The spawn of the stars strode forth the rock beneath us shuddering with its every step as it swept its cold alien gaze over my monsters and even towards Yami Marik's Darknight Parhsath, every monster that felt the penetrating gaze of this horror from beyond time and space shook with fear their strength failing as quickly as their courage was. To be honest they weren't the only ones to be affected by its terrible presence. In between wishing I had just bothered to turn my stupid Game Boy off before crossing the street my mind, being the curious thing it was, kept returning to the question of whether soiling myself in this plane of existence would make my physical form follow suite. Suffice to say my confidence was LONG gone.

Noticing the abject panic in my eyes Yami Marik licked his lips as if he could taste my fear. "Take heart boy; those points aren't truly gone, our monsters have merely offered up their every last iota of strength to appease great Cthulhu, whose attack and defense score is now the combined total of each respective stat for every monster who has fallen under its influence." The Great Old One raised its clawed hands to the stars above as if to seize them in its scaly grasp giving an unearthly undulating howl as power was leeched out of every monster in play fueling its once dormant limbs with a terrifying new strength (11100, 4700). "It looks like you won't have to wait to be fed to the denizens of the Shadow Realm boy; you've already been chosen to be an offering to the Great Old Ones. Great Cthulhu! I beseech you to strike down the one that would return you to your ancient slumber. Destroy his lowly wench and end this duel once and for all!" Yami Marik called out. Cthulhu slowly turned its gaze now fixed upon the mere mortal that had summoned it its expression impossible to determine through the forest of tentacles that dominated its face. For a few tense seconds monster and master, though I couldn't figure out which was which, locked gazes for what felt like an eternity. Just as I feared that the great priest of R'yleh would refuse to obey and decide instead to kill us both it eventually looked back towards my poor Kozaky's Sexy Kitty, who had only now started to feebly stir from fainting. When her vision cleared enough for her to see Cthulhu's enormous claw looming above her intending to crush her she recovered in record time giving a piercing scream as she shielded her head with her arms and bracing for the inevitable.

Suddenly a strange little creature appeared in front of KSK. It was about the same size and shape Kozaky but in the form of a windup toy a large metal key turning in its back. With a jerky movement to its limbs the little contraption started to trundle off to the right whirring away and, surprisingly Cthulhu followed it's movements with the detached curiosity you'd show when looking at an unusual looking bug. With a speed that defied its enormous size the Great Old One suddenly reached out and swept the robot into the nest of tentacles hiding most of its face a sickening series of crunching noises emanating from it as gears and oil dribbled down its twitching tentacles like a rain of gore. There was a pregnant pause as Yami Marik blinked as if unsure of what had just happened. "What was THAT?" He demanded the sheer absurdity of what had just happened enough to overcome whatever blind rage he should have been experiencing on having me escape certain doom yet again.

After I had managed to get my heart rate down to something near normal I managed to muster up a weak grin. "That, was Decoy Kozaky (400, 400) you could say he's the Kozaky version of a Kuriboh only with a bit more potent effect when used specifically with my kind of deck. During a battle involving a monster with the word 'Kozaky' in its name I can send one of these little guys from my hand or deck, the latter of which I just did. Plus that's another 'Kozaky' card in the graveyard which means Mutant Kozaky gains another four hundred attack points. Course thanks to your frozen seafood section reject lurking over their those points are just added to its attack score, still it took some of the wind out of your sails eh?" I said wiping the sweat off my brow as Cthulhu's power rose to 11500.

Yami Marik sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers as if to soothe a sudden headache. "You know at first your uncanny ability to save your worthless hide over and over was infuriating, now it's merely annoying. So be it you've bought yourself another turn for now. However," He added giving an arrogant sneer. "I suppose I should be grateful to you for making sure this duel doesn't end too quickly. It merely gives me more time to test the true scope of my ultimate monster's powers. After all, did you think that one of the Great Old Ones would have only a single, albeit extraordinarily useful, effect? If so allow me to prove that theory wrong by moving to my second main phase, setting two cards facedown, and calling upon Cthulhu's second power, the power to raise the dead! Great Cthulhu, call upon your darkest spells and begin the resurrection of my fallen minions, starting with Despair from the Dark!" He proclaimed sweeping an arm out. Cthulhu spread its webbed claws to either side and began to chant in a language too ancient and alien to describe let alone understand every deep rumbling syllable striking me like a physical blow. Slowly tendrils of shadowy matter rose out of the cracks in the ground beneath us reforming into the cackling monstrosity that had plagued me since this duel had begun.

"Once per turn the spells of great Cthulhu allow me to revive a Dark monster from my graveyard, however it is only through its ancient magic that these creatures live again and should Cthulhu leave the field in any way the monsters it has revived will return to their eternal slumber. But now my army has begun to rise again, and once you end your final turn I will use Cthulhu's dark magic to revive another monster, once Cthulhu is given three sources of power from my side of the field all I have to do is attack your monsters with two of my own. Since that attack strength of every monster in play aside from Cthulhu is now zero each battle will end in a draw destroying both your monsters and mine. However as long as I have at least one other monster in play Cthulhu will still have an offering to draw strength from and then I will rid myself of you once and for all!" Yami Marik roared in triumph as Cthulhu's soul rending gaze sent Despair reeling with fright its strength leaving its spectral form as quickly as it had been returned giving the terrible spawn of the stars above unimaginable power (14200, 7700).

As I tried to keep myself from shaking long enough to draw I noticed that even the nameless denizens of the pit below us had fallen silent. It seems that just as every other living creature that had been seized in the terrible gaze of that colossal sticky blasphemy from beyond the stars they too were in awe as they gazed upon a being so beyond our understanding that its very existence cast aside every fundamental law of time, space, and matter. And while I doubted the abomination towering before me truly depicted the full scope of Cthulhu's malevolence and evil it seemed that Yami Marik had managed to grant the card that bore the name and image of the Great Priest of R'yleh a portion of its vast insidious power. As ludicrous as it sounds I might have been more willing to face one of the Egyptian God Cards right at that moment. Even the Winged Dragon of Ra would be in some small way more familiar and perhaps even more merciful an opponent, then the gibbering horror that had crawled up from the depths of that ancient city of stone and slime. And yet…

And yet even as I stood there, trembling in fear my hand did not once so much as twitch towards my deck to surrender. For somewhere inside me something was keeping my sanity intact and shone with, however faintly, a flicker of defiance and determination. Even as I shook with fear my hands were trying to clench into fists, even as my teeth chattered my jaw was trying to clench, and even as my eyes were wide with fright something within them showed not despair, but hope. I was not immune to the terror this behemoth inspired, nor was did I seem the slightest bit able shoulder the weight of what was riding on this duel, even as its outcome was dangling by a thread. I should have been accepting my fate and preparing to die, but something inside me would not let me surrender, only move forward even if from here on out my every step would lead me closer to my inevitable doom. I prepared to draw what was likely going to be my final draw for this duel and bowed my head so my hair hung over my eyes as I started to speak.

"I might not have an ancient Egyptian pharaoh sharing my soul to give me advice Yami Marik," I said addressing my foe by his proper name for the first time the entire duel. My voice started to get louder ad I started to shake, not from fear, but from rage. "I might not have an innate ability to see Duel Spirits, or be aspiring to be a pro league duelist," I said gritting my teeth before I snapped up my head my eyes blazing with sheer, unflinching stubborn pride. "I MIGHT NOT EVEN HAVE A GODDAMN DRIVER'S LICENSE, but I REFUSE to lie down and die just because you happened to pull out another all powerful monster to hide behind you hear me?!" I bellowed slamming a card onto my disk. "I have one last move to make and believe me only one of us is going to be left standing when this turn is over. I play a card that represents the pinnacle of Kozaky's research, a weapon that can destroy any monster no matter how powerful or how broken its effects, lets see how confident you are in the powers of the Great Old Ones when your looking down the barrel of KOZAKY'S NEO ULTIMA MATTER DISINTEGRATION CANNON!!"

Mutant Kozaky lifted its arm and as we watched an enormous laser cannon appeared fitting over its mutated limb. It was covered with thick gunmetal grey armored plates and padded clamps that started to latch onto Mutant Kozaky's arm securing it firmly. With a whirr of energy it came to life crackles of electricity coursing through the enormous weapon as it thrummed with a power that shook the ground beneath us steam escaping from vents placed at several points along the barrel to regulate its internal temperature. With a roar Mutant Kozaky brandished the massive cannon aiming it at Cthulhu and baring its fangs snarling a challenge. The Great Old stood its ground flaring out its wings and giving a howl that reverberated through the air matching its enemy's display with a demonstration of its own power. Yami Marik had to fight to maintain his footing a look of uncertainly growing in his eyes. "Wh-what's happening?! You don't honestly expect that pathetic toy will give you any chance of stopping great Cthulhu do you?!" He demanded.

I gave my opponent a toothy grin something hard and dangerous in my eyes that made the madman take an involuntary step back. "As a matter of fact yes, yes I do. You see the K.N.U.M.D.C is so powerful that Kozaky would never let anyone but himself use it, in other words the only monsters that can use this equip cards are 'Kozaky' and 'Mutant Kozaky'. When either of these monsters is equipped the cannon's first ability negates the effect of every monster face up on the field." I said as the cannon on Mutant Kozaky's arm suddenly beeped a panel sliding back revealing six missiles. The missiles started to launch one by one burying themselves into the rock around us forming a circle. Then with a deep thrum each missile opened up revealing a complicated looking machine that started to produce a series of semi transparent bubbles of energy. As the bubbles grew they slowly merged together forming a large dome that covered the field. The missiles started to hum as their unseen mechanisms activated wave after wave of intense pressure started to weigh down on every monster in play underneath the dome. Mutant Kozaky used its body to help shield KSK from the full impact of the gravity change. What the field was doing actually, was breaking the concentration monsters normally needed to maintain their effects and as my monsters began to adjust to the change in pressure both of them had regained their base attack and defense scores (2900, 2800) (500, 500).

Cthulhu, Despair and Darknight however weren't faring nearly as well. Cthulhu gripped its slimy head in its claws and started to wail in agony as the intense gravity started to come crashing down on its soft squishy bulk. It was an amazing and terrifying sight to see that seemingly unstoppable mountain of scale and slime stumble bringing down a few of the stone buildings with its arms tentacles flailing and clutching blindly at the air as it fought to fight off the effect of the dampening field shrieking foul and indecipherable oaths. Since its attack score was indeterminate without monsters to draw power from Cthulhu's attack score became, ironically, zero leaving it as weak as the monsters it had once taken such strength from (0, 0). Darknight Parshath hardly fared better. I could actually see feathers being torn from the fallen fairy's wings as it struggled to fly through the dampening field, only to be forced back down landing with a crash of battered wings and dented armor. Oddly enough Despair seemed the only one not affected, though seeing as it was in fact a spirit I suppose it was fairly immune to the effects the field would have on physical beings.

Yami Marik bared his teeth and snarled in anger as he watched what my card was doing to his monsters. "FOOL! You think that by merely sealing away Cthulhu's powers that you can still win?! The great priest of R'yleh will not fall it CANNOT fall, not when I'm so close to victory! I activate my facedown card, Spirit Barrier, so long as I have even one monster on the field I won't take so much as a single point of battle damage!" He said as his trap card rose up. From all around us the phantoms of Yami Marik's fallen monsters started to rise up from the ruins of the stone city, like a pulsing shrieking veil they started to swarm around Cthulhu. The towering beast seemed to draw new strength from their presence slowly straining to shrug off the force of the increased gravity until with an unearthly roar it rose to its full height and snapped out its great wings a shockwave of energy ripping through the air. This wasn't just a duel anymore even though Cthulhu's effects had been sealed away it was still fighting to resist the power of Kozaky's Neo Ultima Matter Disintegration Cannon. Just as the God Cards had at times possessed a power that went beyond their strength as cards the Great Old One was slowly but surely beginning to surpass the physical limitations of the card that bore its image, and if it truly freed itself of its earthly trappings, no longer being merely a card but the TRUE Cthulhu, I had no doubt in my mind that I would die, the time to strike, to end this nightmare forever, was NOW!!

"Still hiding behind your cards blondie? Well let's see if we can't start tearing down your defenses. The preparations have been made and the K.N.U.M.D.C is ready to fire! By removing one card from my graveyard with the word 'Kozaky' in its name I can destroy one face up monster on either side of the field. I'll give you three guesses what my target is, and the first two don't count, FIRE IN THE HOLE!!" I bellowed stuffing my fingers in my ears as one of my copies of Kozaky slid out of my graveyard. Mutant Kozaky leveled the cannon aiming it at the shrieking Cthulhu which was now slithering towards us claws extended and the unspoken promise of our deaths reflected in its glaring amber eyes. The barrel of the cannon began to glow blinding neon green as it began to charge to full power. Just as the Great Old One was almost upon Mutant Kozaky reaching out to rip out its heart the cannon went off with a blast so massive that the entire stone plateau we were standing on cracked and heaved. The point blank blast of energy tore through Cthulhu's greasy hide like a cannonball shredding through a wet paper back black sludge spewing everywhere from the gaping hole in the monstrosity's chest. Despair from the Dark screamed as it started to dissolve the destruction of the great priest of R'yleh severed its connection with the eldritch magic that was all that continued to keep it alive. But even its pained wail was drowned out by Mutant Kozaky and my own roars of triumph as we saw the light fade from the beast's eyes as it started to fall back limp and lifeless…

But in the space of a heart beat Mutant Kozaky's roar turned to a choking gasp as a clawed hand plunged deep into its left shoulder blood spewing as Cthulhu's razor edged claws drilled deeper into its flesh. The claws tensed as Cthulhu's eyes seemed to reignite with a terrible new life swinging its head forward and catching my monster in a head-butt that broke the ground beneath them. Mutant Kozaky gave a roar of defiance smashing its knee into the beast's stomach forcing it to back off staggering from the blow for a few moments but then slowly straightening up. "What the-why didn't it work?!" I shouted in shock and disbelief. The effect of the K.N.U.M.D.C should have destroyed Cthulhu completely, and yet it was still standing, the gaping wound in its chest slowly regenerating as the phantoms around its body seemed to be absorbed into its very flesh!

A fresh peal of demented laughter from Yami Marik rang out the madman grinning so widely I thought his head was going to split in half. As I watched Despair from the Dark and Dark Grepher were ejected from his graveyard before being pocketed in his cloak. "Did I not tell you? DID I NOT TELL YOU CTHULHU CANNOT FALL?! Cthulhu has one final power and its one that shall ensure that even this last desperate attempt of yours to stop me will fail! Whenever Cthulhu is destroyed and sent from the field to the graveyard, be it from battle or a card effect, I can remove from play as many Dark attribute monsters in my graveyard whose total levels equal twelve or more to resurrect great Cthulhu. Do you understand now?! As long as my graveyard is piled high with the dead I CANNOT DIE!!" The madman shrieked spittle flying from his mouth his eyes wide and filmed.

I gritted my teeth sweat pouring down my face and spat on the stone at my feet before giving a sneer. "Is that so? Well then it's a good thing the K.N.U.M.D.C isn't a one shot wonder. As long as I sacrifice Mutant Kozaky's ability to attack for a number of turns equal to the times I use its effect I can continue to destroy monsters on your field as long as I have cards in my graveyard to remove from play for ammo. So let's see what will run out of fuel first, my cannon, or Cthulhu's magic!" I said as Mutant Kozaky bit down on the top of the cannon and gripped hard with its teeth. Then it yanked its head back cocking the massive device like a shotgun. A huge steel ammunition case ejected from beneath the cannon and once more it began to charge up to fire. This time Cthulhu decided to try and focus on defense. It folded its arms and curled its wings around itself before stomping down with each clawed foot anchoring itself in the rock beneath it while the wailing phantoms around it gathered in front of it like a spectral shell.

Just as it did before the cannon spat out a gargantuan laser beam the shockwave sweeping over us like a thunderclap. It tore through the wall of phantoms and slammed into Cthulhu, and for a few seconds the titanic horror stood its ground its body straining to withstand the incredible force before the ground beneath it started to be gouged out as it was pushed back its feet carving through the battered stone beneath it as it was punched through three buildings demolishing even more of R'yleh kicking up a cloud of dust and rubble. This time I didn't bother to check and see if Cthulhu was still standing as I took Kozaky's Self Destruct Button out of my graveyard before Kozaky's cannon went off two more times. In the pause between the first and second shots the Great Old One's hulking claw swept to the side out of the dust cloud parting the smoke the rest of the monstrosity's slimy bulk charging forth in a shrieking din. The first shot blasted a chunk out of its left shoulder and as the second shot went screaming towards its head Cthulhu drew back its mangled claw and struck the blast head on the rest of its arm bursting into glistening chunks even as it began to regenerate again.

In what had quickly gone from a dueling field to an all out war zone it should have been impossible to focus on anything except these two hulking combatants, one an embodiment of the dark and untamed chaos that dwelt just outside our tiny world, and the other a beast born from the destructive potential of mortal technology. But because my very life was depending on it I was paying CLOSE attention to how many cards Yami Marik was removing from his graveyard to keep Cthulhu alive. Just as I was pocketing Kozaky's Defense Grid and Kozaky's Temporal Shifting Machine I saw the spirits of all three Berserk Dragons, King of Yamimaki, and Serpent Night Dragon fading from the wall of spirits that was giving the great priest of R'yleh enough power to keep on fighting despite three more direct hits. I was still trembling, but no longer from fear but from a fierce joy. This wasn't just dueling for status or entertainment, this was putting everything on the line to fight against impossible odds against an opponent unlike anything I had, or likely ever would, face in my entire life. All the spells, traps and turn around counter attacks meant nothing now, it had all boiled down to this final desperate struggle for survival, and as long as I was still breathing I'd see it through to the end. Was I even still dueling? Or had I somehow become part of the battle itself? Who knows, but damn if I wasn't having the time of my life!

"Still gonna brag about how you can't be beaten blondie?! Huh? HUH?! Where's your empty bravado NOW you two bit sack of crap?!" I roared over the din of Mutant Kozaky's cannon going off again. Cthulhu's massive wings flapped hard enough to kick up dust around it as it took to the sky to try and dodge the oncoming blast, but just as it was airborne the laser blew through one of its feet throwing off its balance and making it slam into a stone spire knocking the top half over and sending it crashing to the ground. Recalibrating its aim Mutant Kozaky yanked back the reloading panel another case ejecting just as Kozaky's Backup Plan ejected from my graveyard.

"SHUT UP! You can't keep this up forever I WILL win even if I have to use every single monster in my graveyard to preserve Cthulhu!" Yami Marik hissed veins throbbing angrily across his sweating brow as the spirit barrier continued to shrink, this time Janempa and a Magical Ghost disappeared as their spirits were being absorbed to regenerate the damage to Cthulhu's leg. The Great Old One flew towards Mutant Kozaky dragging its claws along the buildings it was flying between gouging out huge pieces of crumbling stone, and just as it was about to collide with my monster it veered back swinging forth its arms sending the shower of debris hurling at Mutant Kozaky trying to use the rubble to crush it before it could fire off another shot.

As KSK held on tightly Mutant Kozaky, still charging up the K.N.U.M.D.C, drew back its arm and swung with all its strength using the barrel to swat aside the oncoming debris pulverizing pieces of stone almost as big as it was into gravel giving way with a sound like thunder. However one of the rocks was still on course and was hurtling towards one of Mutant Kozaky's eyes. Kozaky's Sexy Kitty saw her look of shock quickly turning to one of determination. With unbelievable speed she leapt off Mutant Kozaky's shoulder, rebounded off the barrel of the cannon, and leapt into the boulder's path drawing back her right foot and giving a powerful kick that shattered it instantly. "HAH! That a girl, you really think KSK would just sit tight while your monster tried taking a few cheap shots at her mentor blondie?! You'd be amazed what someone is capable of when the people they care for are in danger!" I said a look of savage pride on my face as I raised my fist in triumph. As incredible as it seemed, we were WINNING, we could BEAT Cthulhu, we could stop Yami Marik, and I could protect everyone who was counting on me to return to my physical form! Just a little more…we had to hold out just a little more!

Sweat continued to drip down Yami Marik's face as he watched Mutant Kozaky take aim and fire another blast. Cthulhu tried to dodge it by flying straight up into the void around us and then veering sharply to the left but my monster saw through its strategy and strained its muscles almost to the breaking point to pull the enormous cannon higher up the beam swinging upwards and tearing through the Great Old One's wings. "Damn you, damn you damn you damn you DAMN YOU!! It's not over yet!" He screamed. As the possibility of defeat began to sink in I noticed his attention was flicking between the battle between Cthulhu and Mutant Kozaky and his last face down card even as PumpKing, Emissary of the Afterlife and Doomsday Horror were absorbed by Cthulhu to try and regenerate its crippled wings as it started to plummet towards the ground below. Whatever it was it was likely his last shot at still seizing victory and it wouldn't be long before I forced his hand.

"Keep barking you stunted twerp!! You're grasping at straws and you know it!" I taunted taking out Giant Kozaky from my graveyard. Despite my outward confidence I knew this battle wouldn't last much longer, most of the cards I had to use as ammunition for the K.N.U.M.D.C were already used, and Yami Marik still had some monsters to sacrifice from his graveyard. As I watched Cthulhu's wings grew back fanning out behind it and tensing as it halted its descent landing in a crouch on top of one of the tallest spires in R'yleh. It squatted there like a monstrous gargoyle black slime dripping from its wounds even as they were healing over making no move to strike instead simply staring in cold hatred flexing its long talons digging them into the crumbling stone it was perched on. Though unnerving the brief lull in the action gave me a moment to look through what was left of my graveyard. I had to bite down a curse upon finding I only had two more 'Kozaky' cards left to use for the K.N.U.M.D.C's effect. To make matters worse the plateau we were dueling on had taken an incredible amount of damage during the battle, and even as I stood there frantically trying to remember how many monsters Yami Marik had left in his graveyard the stone beneath me was trembling, only occasionally at first but slowly becoming more frequent. "Damn it, at this rate it's not going to matter if I win or lose if I don't even have anything left to duel ON."

My apparent distress was apparently causing Yami Marik's insanity to recede briefly; he wiped off his mouth and gave a hoarse chuckle. "That's right boy, did you really think a battle of this magnitude would be as simple as your little card games at home? These aren't holograms were controlling, these monsters are very real, and so is the damage they've inflicted upon our arena. Adds quite an exciting twist to things doesn't it? Now you're not just fighting Cthulhu, your fighting the clock as well, and you're in no position to prevail over either! You put up quite a struggle I'll admit, but your last chance is all but lost, and now it's just a question," He said pausing to lick his lips. "Of what will kill you first, the great priest of R'yleh, or the denizens of the black hole below us?" He sneered, even as small parts of the rock began to break off and tumble into the void below.

"Great, just great, I'm falling towards a horrible death with my window of escape fading fast, my mortal foe has just made his big speech as he prepares to finish me off, and I'm struggling against impossible odds to survive. Hell all we need now is a few random explosions, somebody's long lost relative showing up and a Jet Ski chase scene and we can sell the rites to this whole thing to Hollywood." I said taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. It wasn't over yet, I still had Mutant Kozaky and KSK and the K.N.U.M.D.C could be used two more times, it all came down to Yami Marik's face down card and the last card in my hand, if my hunch was right I would HOPEFULLY be able to take Yami Marik down before I was eaten by some cosmic beast, provided there was a conveniently timed mode of inter dimensional transportation waiting to show up as soon as the duel ended, if not…well that's probably not what I should be focusing on when I need to summon the optimism for one last insane gamble now is it?

"Hold your horses blondie, in case you haven't noticed I'm not dead yet. Things may have gotten more then a little weird but this is still a duel and Kozaky's Neo Ultima Matter Disintegration Cannon still has two more shots left, I don't know if I'll be able to bring you down, but at the very least I'm taking your pet squid with me! READY!" Mutant Kozaky crouched down on one knee to steady its aim as the ground began to shake more intensely. "AIM!" Cthulhu's wings flared up and its claws clenched the stone beneath it hard enough to shatter part of the spire as it prepared to try and escape the blast, just as Mutant Kozaky lined up the shot through a targeting scope attached to the side of the cannon. "FIRE THE DAMN GUN ALREADY!!" I screamed.

The K.N.U.M.D.C went off just a second before Cthulhu took flight soaring up into the dark depths around us like a monstrous bloated bat the massive laser blast screaming towards the cosmic horror. This time instead of trying to dodge the shot the beast held out its claws and began to draw the remaining spirits around its grasp creating a huge pulsing orb of ectoblastic energy that it hurled at the oncoming laser blast. With a clap of light and noise that threatened to render me both blind AND deaf the two projectiles met in mid air in an eruption of conflicting energies. When the explosion subsided Cthulhu was still airborne however its body had been badly burnt after it was caught in the backlash of the two conflicting attacks and now only a single spirit, Spike Bot, was left to protect the great priest of R'yleh having absorbed Janemba and Archfiend Soldier.

Now it was time to see just who was going to make it out of this duel with their soul intact. The K.N.U.M.D.C had only one more card to use to destroy a monster, which was exactly what Yami Marik had left in the form of his long forgotten Darknight Parshath. My plan was to destroy the Parshath and attack Cthulhu with KSK. If all went well Yami Marik wouldn't have enough monsters to revive Cthulhu and it would be simply a matter of praying that Yami Marik didn't draw a monster on his next turn. Of course that's assuming that everything was going to go my way and that things always work out perfectly for the hero of the story. Alas, this was the real world, and very rarely do things work out that neatly and conveniently, so while I HOPED that my plan would work, I had one last trick up my sleeve if Yami Marik tried anything fancy. The only thing left to do now was to go for broke. "Mutant Kozaky! Use the Kozaky Neo Ultima Matter Disintegration Cannon's last round to destroy Airknight Parshath! Once its gone Kozaky's Sexy Kitty, you attack Cthulhu and bring that thing DOWN! ATTACK!" I roared swinging down my free hand towards Yami Marik like a general sending my troops off into battle for the final time.

Suddenly Cthulhu flapped its titanic wings and shot higher into the sky above us, as I watched it stopped hovering directly over the plateau and with a gurgling roar it started to streak down like a living meteorite. At first I thought it was just trying to stop Mutant Kozaky from firing, but as I watched the Great Old One build up momentum I realized to my horror that it wasn't trying to attack us, _rather it was going to destroy the entire plateau we were dueling on and drop us into the void!! _Yami Marik had quickly caught onto his monster's intentions but rather then show fear over the priest of R'yleh taking matters into its own claws he broke into a fresh peal of demented laughter. "Well now this IS a treat! It seems great Cthulhu has deemed you too dangerous a foe to allow your little rampage to continue. What will you do now boy? You said it yourself your precious cannon can only be used one more time, which will you choose to destroy, Cthulhu to prevent us both from being cast into the jaws of oblivion itself, or will you continue your foolish plan to destroy my Darknight Parshath so that your flea ridden wench can attempt to destroy the Great Old One itself?" He laughed.

"Damn it blondie don't you even care if you bite the dust too?! I thought you wanted to ESCAPE the Shadow Realm, not become a permanent resident!" I snarled sweat pouring down my face as I thought furiously on what to do. Mutant Kozaky kept switching targets from Darknight to the rapidly descending Cthulhu, who was now calling forth every last ounce of spectral energy to bolster its power as it prepared to tear through the plateau like a hot knife through butter. If I blew Cthulhu to smithereens then Yami Marik might find a way to win next turn and I'd lose my soul forever, but if I DIDN'T destroy Cthulhu it would destroy the platform that was all that stood between me and untold thousands of ravenous inter dimensional nightmares and I would STILL lose my soul. What the hell was I suppose to do?!

It was what Yami Marik said next that settled it for me. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly giving a relaxed sigh as if utterly at peace with the whole of creation. "I already told you boy, I'll sacrifice everything to see you die, even my last chance for escape, if only to see you suffer for all eternity. No matter what you do my victory is assured. Should you struggle to defy your fate I will cut your last hope as swiftly as the sisters of fate shall soon cut the thread of your life, allowing me to be reborn into your world to begin my reign anew. And should you decide to accept your fate? Then we will fall together, you and I, into the darkness forever, cursed to remain at each other's side as we languish in the shadows, and through your never ending agony I will NEVER be forgotten." He purred watching Cthulhu descend from above. The worst part was there wasn't even any twitching of his eyes or frothing from his mouth; there was just a deep utter sense of peace that altogether scared me more then anything else he had done throughout the entire duel.

"Yeah, well YOU can stay here if you want jackass, but I have people waiting for me back home so excuse me while I fight for my life! Mutant Kozaky, SHOOT CTHULHU OUT OF THE SKY!" I bellowed. The mutated mad scientist looked back at me and gave me a fierce grin, we knew we might not make it out of here, but darn if we weren't going out with a little style! With a grunt of effort it's mutated muscles strained as it hefted up the K.N.U.M.D.C lifting the massive weapon straight up at the sky where Cthulhu was hurtling down with terrifying speed, its colossal grotesque bulk fueled by unimaginable malevolence and the strength of untold millennia. I had just enough time to cross my fingers (and my toes, I had long lost any hope of seeming dignified at this point folks) before the cannon unleashed the biggest laser blast yet, the colossal beam of pure energy surging upwards towards Cthulhu even as it plummeted down its momentum now truly unstoppable.

"Such courage, such determination, such NAIVETY!" Yami Marik crowed as he swept back an arm his face down card lifting up. "I knew my little speech would force you to take action, did you REALLY think I was going to just lie down and die when there was a brand new world waiting for me to lay waste to?! Now that you've used the last of your ammunition I can take back this duel once and for all! I activate Burial from a Different Dimension! I can now select up to three monsters that are in my removed from play pile and send them back to my graveyard. And I choose Janemba, Berserk Dragon and Despair from the Dark! Now Cthulhu will survive, and next turn I will summon a monster to destroy your worthless wench and win the duel! Its over your miserable worm, time to...eh?" He paused in his triumphant ranting to notice that my shoulders were starting to shake and I had my head bowed low so my eyes were hidden. "Aw, what's the matter boy? Can't handle the fact that you're going to die?" The madman purred.

What I did next however startled Yami Marik. I tossed back my head and started to bellow in triumphant laughter. "Now who said anything about me dying you pompous creep? I have not yet BEGUN to fight! I activate a trap card that I had just in case you had something up your sleeve, though I have to admit I didn't think things would work out THIS much in my favor! I play Monkey See, Monkey Do," I proclaimed with glee as my card rose up depicting a duelist glancing down next to him with a sweat drop rolling down his face as a monkey holding a duel disk was copying his stance. "When you activate a magic or trap card I can pay half my life points to negate your card and give me the benefit you would have received, so instead of you getting monsters back from your removed from play pile I get to pick up to three of my own to send back to my graveyard. And I think we both know what that means," I said taking Giant Kozaky and Kozaky out of my pocket and sliding them back into my graveyard not even cringing as my life points fell to 750. As Yami Marik watched blood draining from his expression Mutant Kozaky reloaded the K.N.U.M.D.C as Cthulhu closed the distance from shattering the plateau with every passing second. With one last roar of defiance Mutant Kozaky fired the cannon the biggest blast of all belching forth from the hulking war machine and lighting the darkness around us for miles.

Cthulhu howled in bloodlust and crossed its arms in front of itself as it met the blast head on forcing its way downwards through the blast of pure energy even as its flesh began to sizzle and peel away its incomprehensible alien intelligence consumed by a single burning desire to see every single one of the frail wretched mortals that had dared to challenge it die. Closer and closer it surged down towards us even as its body was breaking apart bits and pieces at a time tattered streamers of its own burning crackling flesh trailing behind it its blackening claws, now little more then scorched crumbling bone, stretching out for us its amber eyes sizzling and boiling in their sockets but still blazing with such hatred, such fury! But then, finally, FINALLY, the malevolent will behind those amber orbs began to dim as its flesh peeled back from its skull. The claws outstretched to shatter the stone beneath us cracked and broke like brittle twigs as the rest of Cthulhu's bloated foul bulk was consumed at last by the raw power behind Kozaky's greatest creation. When the beam finally died out the only thing that was left of Cthulhu was a shower of ash that drifted down onto the stone city of R'yleh like black snow.

At the sight of this Yami Marik sank to his knees something in his gaze seeming to break at the sight of the ashes of his ultimate weapon scattering to the depths of the void. I could see the disbelief in his eyes, the complete and utter shock that his plans had been laid to waste, not by the King of Games, not by the Pharaoh, but by a mortal boy who had refused to give in where so many others had done so fighting against him. "_I…haven't lost…yet, I'll…still have…life points left." _He said his voice hoarse and feeble his eyes wide but seeing nothing. The power he had taken from Cthulhu was already fading and I could practically see his body wither and quake as weak as he had been when I had defeated the last of his Berserk Dragon. Darknight Parshath seemed equally distraught now Yami Marik's only line of defense against my monsters. The fallen fairy took a few steps back his crimson eyes wide with terror as Mutant Kozaky reloaded the K.N.U.M.D.C and took aim. Deciding running was the better part of valor the Darknight shrieked and took off galloping frantically flapping his injured wings trying to take flight. A look almost like pity flickered in Mutant Kozaky's eyes before it fired the cannon for the last shot the blast incinerating Darknight Parshath until at last Yami Marik's field was bare except for his now useless Spirit Barrier.

I shook my head and revealed the last card in my hand, Rush Recklessly. "You know what the biggest difference between you and the pharaoh is Yami Marik?" I asked calmly as Kozaky's Sexy Kitty looked won at herself and blushed as her body seemed to become more toned with muscle her attack score rising to 1200. Mutant Kozaky, despite its radical transformation, still possessed plenty of its original personality as apparent when it spared KSK an admiring glance before looking back towards the now empty K.N.U.M.D.C before she could notice it was checking her out.

"When the pharaoh's reign as King of Games came to an end in his final duel against Yugi, he was mature enough to know when it was his time to bow out of the spotlight," I said, and as KSK took off on all fours eager to deal the finishing blow I started to walk over to where my opponent was only now trying to escape Mutant Kozaky close behind. Yami Marik was struggling to his feet scrabbling back as he tried to escape my monster as if he could flee the grave he had dug for himself with his own two hands. "Atem, that's the pharaoh's real name by the way, had lived a good life, matter of fact he had been given a truly extraordinary opportunity to help those in need of his wisdom in two different life times, first in ancient Egypt and later in Domino City. So when the final blow was dealt and he was laid to rest he went on to the next world with his head held high. But you, you just didn't know when to quit did you?"

Yami Marik was trying to flee through the corridors of R'yleh even as the stone city began to erode away now bereft of the great priest that had guarded over its tomb for so long. KSK was hot on his heels sniffing away and tracking his foul scent keeping pace easily like a cat chasing a mouse, or in Yami Marik's case a scheming deceitful little rat. "You didn't care about any of that, hell you didn't even EXIST when Atem was still alive. You were just a boogeyman, a monster born from the suffering of a child who had to bear the weight of a purpose that had spanned countless generations. You never had to earn the power of the Millennium Rod, or the right to control the Winged Dragon of Ra. And you CERTAINLY didn't intend to use them for anything but your own sick desire to destroy everything Atem had fought for thousands of years ago. You were just a spoiled brat who thought he could do whatever he wanted since he had yet to be forced to take responsibility for his actions." I said in a calm but dangerous voice as I followed KSK until we had reached the very edge of the plateau. Yami Marik had his back to the gaping abyss below us and now that the scent of fresh meat was so close the beasts below in the pit were in a renewed frenzy howling for our blood. The madman who had only a few minutes ago believed himself invincible was reduced to a trembling wreck holding his duel disk in front of him like a shield as KSK inched closer on all fours a deep growl bubbling from her throat.

"But to make matters WORSE," I said my voice rising to a snarl as I glared daggers into his wide terrified eyes. "You couldn't even take the hint when you own host abandoned you. You had to keep clinging to a life you had never deserved to keep, and what was your big excuse?! 'Because you refused to be a memory'," I said in a mockery of Yami Marik's own deep rasping voice. "Did you ever stop to think about all the people you hurt? The people you TORTURED? Do you think Mai Valentine is ever going to forget how you left her to slowly be buried alive in sand? Or if Joey Wheeler would ever forget the hours he spent sitting over her prone soulless body praying for her to come back, even as the Winged Dragon of Ra burned away his strength? Do you think YUGI would ever forget how with every life points the pharaoh lost how the Shadow Game that YOU created ripped his soul apart piece by piece? WELL DO YOU?!" I roared.

"I…I don't need to explain myself to scum like you!" Yami Marik spat his face a mixture of pale and blotched as fear and rage tore at his mind even as the unsteady ground beneath him was beginning to give way. "The strong live and the weak die, its the natural order of things, and if the rest of you bleeding hearted sentimental FILTH are too spineless to do what is necessary to survive then why should I care if a few worthless vermin are killed in the process?" He said sweating as KSK gave a fresh snarl inching closer and flexing her claws acting more like a hungry panther then a young man's fantasy (not that said young man is a pervert mind you). It seemed even now as oblivion inched steadily closer Yami Marik's heart was too cold and black to admit he was beaten.

I gave him a cold glare before giving a deep sigh. "Fine, well play by your rules since its clear that even now you don't care who you hurt to get what you want. I just have one last thing to say to you Yami Marik," I said as KSK's muscles tensed in preparation to pounce flexing her claws and giving a menacing hiss. Then, after a few more seconds of staring daggers at my opponent my face broke into a wide goofy grin as I held up my empty hand and waved. "Bye-bye." KSK pounced claws reaching towards the reeling madman's throat…only to land right in front of him and, with an impish grin kiss Yami Marik on the tip of his nose. The slight nudge was enough to throw him off balance and as his arms flailed to stop his fall the ground beneath him gave way sending him screaming as he hurtled down, down, down into the darkness below seeming to move in slow motion his eyes blazing with rage his mouth stretched wide in disbelief…then with a sickening SPLAT one of the beasts in the pit below flicked out a tongue the size of a subway train and snagged the blond maniac like an enormous ugly fly before he was yanked into its mouth before I could blink. All things considered not a very dignified way for a villain to die.

"Well technically I didn't see his life points counter go down to zero, but unless he can activate a card effect while inside that things stomach I think its safe to say I've won. The bad guy's been defeated, the worlds been saved, I made my big dramatic speech about goodness and the American way and all that jazz," I said slumping my shoulders and giving a deep sigh of relief. Then after glancing around at the crumbling plateau I threw back my head and screamed. 'NOW COULD SOMEBODY GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE SO I CAN LIVE TO ENJOY THIS MOMENT?!"

I didn't really expect an answer to that question so imagine my surprise when a voice spoke up behind me. "I can understand your irritation, but you should remember to say 'please' when you ask for something my friend." I was so surprised I leapt straight up in the air giving a yelp. Meanwhile KSK and Mutant Kozaky were looking at something behind me their eyes tripling in size. When I turned around and reacted in a similar eye-popping fashion I could see why. Standing a few feet away from me, dressed in full Egyptian attire complete with the golden puzzle shaped like an upside down pyramid hanging from his neck, was the very man who had first defeated Yami Marik so long ago.

My mouth fell somewhere between my knees and I fumbled to say something. "Y-y-y-your majesty! I…but…how…shouldn't you be…" I stuttered. By now Mutant Kozaky and Kozaky's Sexy Kitty were on their hands and knees and bowing reverently to the King of Games himself. Atem gave a gentle chuckle and motioned for my monsters to rise.

"'Atem' will be fine Max. I'm sure you have more then a few questions, but you probably want to get out of this dreadful place am I right?" He said tilting an eyebrow his poise unperturbed even as larger pieces of the stone beneath us were crumbling away. When I gave a yelp as the rock beneath me bucked under the strain the calm smile on the pharaoh's face only grew. "I'll take that as a yes then." He said reaching out and placing a hand on my shoulder closing his eyes. The Millennium Puzzle hanging from his neck started to glow with a blinding light.

When I opened my eyes again we were standing in a vast stretch of...white. Nothing but calm shimmering light stretched on around us in almost a complete contrast from the place Yami Marik had dragged me into for our final battle. Oddly enough KSK and Kozaky, who had somehow returned to his original form, were standing alongside me with Atem in front of me. "Uh…I'm…not dead am I? I mean no offense but I was kind of hoping to live about seventy or eighty more years." I said looking around more then a little nervous, though this time it was more an awkward 'I hope I don't forget any of my relative's names up here' kind of nervous then a 'oh my god I'm gonna die if I screw this up' or 'I wish I knew what half of these questions on my final exam even meant'.

Atem just smiled shaking his head. "Your time isn't up just yet Maxfield, yes I know your name I had some…friends, find out more about you while you were dueling Yami Marik. I wanted to thank you personally for laying this final specter from my past to rest. If only it had been settled once and for all back in Battle City," He said his eyes growing distant at the memory. "But it seems I underestimated the dark side of Marik's heart. To think that he survived, through nothing more then his own terrible will, I'm not entirely sure I could have had the strength to finish him off for good once I saw the lengths he had been willing to take to defeat you," Then his eyes came back to the present and a broad smile lit his face. "To think that you stood your ground against my old nemesis even after Yami Marik had all but become a devil clad in human flesh, you are truly a remarkable young man." Atem said taking my hand in his own shaking it vigorously, unsurprisingly the man had a firm grip and I had to shake my fingers out a bit to get the feeling back.

By now my face was beet red. "Aw jeez, well somebody had to do it and it's not like I was very eager to just give up. Don't get me wrong I was scared to death but I'm well, I can be really stubborn sometimes." I said sheepishly dragging my toe along the ground. I'd like to think that I could handle myself with more composure around celebrities, toss a few movie stars or pro athletes my way and I could be as cool as a cucumber, but here was someone who actually had EARNED his fame. He had worked from ordinary origins for the good of other instead of himself and was humble to the core. Then of course was some other things in his favor like how unlike most celebrities Atem had never sired any illegitimate children, had never gone into rehab for a drug addiction, and had never weaseled his way out of a jail sentence for acting like a complete ass in public.

Atem gave another laugh, it was truly amazing to see him so…at ease with the way of the world. He had been so intense, so dark during his life, but it seemed death, and whatever lay beyond it, had given him a peace of mind he had never truly known in life. "Oh I can believe it, you rather remind me of Seto Kaiba in that regard. No matter how many times we dueled and no matter how many times I triumphed he'd never lose the resolve to prove he was the best. Some people would chastise that kind of stubbornness, but what to one seems stubbornness others could see as determination. There's nothing wrong with digging in your heels when other would want you to give in Max, in fact that's probably one of the reasons were even having this conversation."

I simply nodded my head still in a state of shock that not only was my soul intact but I was talking with THE King of Games himself. "So…what happens now?" I asked looking back towards KSK and Kozaky. As if in response the two duel monsters looked at each other and smiled. Then to my surprise they turned into spheres of light and began to circle around me like dancing stars.

"Now you return to those waiting for you in your world. I'd escort you back myself but now that I have passed on my influence no longer reaches beyond the Shadow Realm and…well, you seem to be a sharp lad, I'm sure you can figure it out." Atem said with a wink as the two spheres of light began to whirl around me forming a glowing vortex. All that was missing now was for me to start clicking my heels together.

"Wait, so that's it? How about putting in a good word in with the folks upstairs, or maybe granting me my hearts desire? Come on man I know I might be getting greedy but don't I get SOME kind of consolation prize?" I asked indignantly even as my vision started to spin as the whirling lights whipped into a higher velocity, everything was spinning like a kaleidoscope of sound and light and I'd be lucky if I didn't wake up in my physical form only to toss my cookies.

The last thing I heard from Atem was one last good natured chuckle. "Oh don't worry Max, every good game comes with a prize…" And with that the rest of the universe around me seemed to spiral into darkness, not the sinister choking shadows that Yami Marik had taken shelter in for so long before finding the means to strike at me, but rather the plain old comforting quiet darkness that came with every good night's sleep.

I don't know how long it lasted but it felt like I was lost in a deep slumber for an eternity until all of a sudden everything sort of _lurched_ into focus. The first thing that came back to me was a dull throbbing ache that seemed to be wrapped around me as tightly as a woolen blanket on a cold winter night. The next thing I noticed that I couldn't move, or rather, when I tried to move my aches only seemed to come along for the ride. As my vision swam slowly back into focus I was looking up at a ceiling, nothing fancy just a plain white ceiling with fluorescent lights. As I wiggled a bit more I discovered that I was currently in a body cast, not completely thank goodness but my head, left arm and everything from the waist down was wrapped in bandages. But seeing as there didnt seem to be any stitches, life support machines, or other signs of serious irreversible maiming that I could see I seemed to have come out fairly in one piece.

I lifted my head as high as I could and saw a pile of letters, some from my family and a LOT from my girlfriend Jenny, apparently my folks had given her the address to the hospital which explained the small mountain of care packages on the table next to my bed. To my left was a plastic tray that held something I assumed was the hospital's attempt at meatloaf, pretty much ordinary things in an ordinary hospital in an ordinary life. Indeed as I laid back looking for the remote to the television part of me was already starting to wonder if I hadn't imagined the entire thing. But as I spied the remote and inched my bandaged mitten towards it I spied something next to it that, to this day seems to be the only possible evidence of my strange and peculiar experience. It was a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh cards, neatly stacked and looking like each card was fresh from a booster pack. And there, facing up on the top of the deck his smile bigger then I ever remembered it being before, was Kozaky.

PHEW! Now I remember why I liked doing smallere chapters as opposed to big ones, sure the bigger ones get more stuff crammed in but BOY is it a lot of work! I hope you guys didn't mind reading through such an incredibly lengthy finale to what has been an otherwise relatively well compacted story. I just couldn't stop the inspiration to keep building upon the ideas I kept coming up with to finish this story in a way that would be seen as worthy of all your wonderful compliments and praise. I hope everyone liked my ultimate trump card for Yami Marik even if you may have never read the works of H.P Lovecraft. You would be amazed at how much time and effort I put into making sure everything was just right. To those of you that have enjoyed my writing so much you might want to give my other Teen Titans fanfic a look see if you're fond of the show, or just looking for something new. I hope you all enjoyed reading this story as much as I have writing it and hopefully my skills will only continue to entertain you guys. If you have any suggestions on what I should write about next feel free to let me know, later!

Original Cards

Gateway to R'yleh

Spell Card

Type: Ritual

Image: A towering city of spires and monoliths draped in slime and covered in strange hieroglyphs rising from a raging sea a titanic door with the bas relief of a squid-dragon like creature engraved into it beginning to open as the stars above glow in a strange pattern.

Text: This card is used to Ritual Summon 'Cthulhu, Spawn of the Stars'. You must offer from your hand and field monsters whose total levels equal twelve to perform the ritual summon.

Cthulhu, Spawn of the Stars.

Level 12

Dark Attribute

Fiend/Ritual/Effect

Attack: ??

Defense: ??

Image: Cthulhu perched on top of the tallest spire in R'yleh like a bloated gargoyle its wings fanning out behind it while its clawed hands grip the stone beneath its perch while the stars above shine with an eerie intensity swirling into strange patterns.

Text: A horror from beyond time and space, it slumber in the stone depths of R'yleh until the stars are right again. This card cannot be normal summoned or set. This card can only be Ritual summoned by the spell card 'Gateway to R'yleh'. As long as this card is face up on the field the attack and defense score of every other monster face up on the field becomes zero. The original attack and defense of this card becomes the total amount taken from every face up monster under the effect of 'Cthulhu, Spawn of the Stars'. Once per turn you can special summon one Dark Attribute monster from your graveyard. If this card is removed from the field any cards special summoned this way are destroyed. When this card is destroyed by either battle or a card effect you can remove from play a number of Dark Attribute monsters whose total levels are equal to the total level of this card. 'Cthulthu, Spawn of the Stars' cannot be special summoned except by its own effect.

Cthulhu is the creation of H.P Lovecraft, all creative credit goes to him and the writers who continue on his legacy in the Cthulhu Mythos.

Decoy Kozaky

Level 1

Dark Attribute

Fiend/Effect

Attack: 400

Defense: 400

Image: A life sized windup toy resembling Kozaky trundling down a hallway with a giant windup key turning in its back a Barrel Dragon following behind it while the real Kozaky pokes his head out of a potted plant dirt and shrubs on top of his head.

Text: A handy little gadget when Kozaky attracts the wrong kind of attention, it's easy to build so there's always a few of them laying around his lab. When a monster with the word 'Kozaky' in its name is attacked you can send this card either from your deck or your hand to reduce all damage you'd take this turn to zero, until the end of this turn that card cannot be destroyed as a result of battle/

Kozaky's Neo Ultima Matter Disintegration Cannon

Spell Card

Type: Equip

Image: Mutant Kozaky roaring a challenge while firing multiple rounds from the K.N.U.M.D.C at an advancing horde of Doom Dozers ammunition shells piling up at its feet while KSK hides behind its left leg her hands over her ears.

Text: This card can only be equipped to either 'Kozaky' or 'Mutant Kozaky'. As long as this card is equipped to one of these face up monsters the effects of every face up monster on the field is negated. By removing one card with the word 'Kozaky' in its name from your graveyard you can destroy one face up monster on the field. If you choose to use this effect more then once in a single turn for every additional use of this effect the monster this card is equipped to cannot attack.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Trap Card

Type: Counter

Image: A duelist taking a stance getting ready to start a duel looking down to his right a sweat drop rolling down the side of his head as a monkey holding a duel disk copies his stance.

Text: This card can only be activated when your opponent plays a magic or trap card. By paying half your life points transfer the effect of the card your opponent just activated to your side of the field.


End file.
